Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview... a paratroop commander for the French military in Algiers. Mathieu and the French are fighting the Algerians to prevent their independence from France. His chief task is gathering intelligence. Then he’ll turn to bombs. He sees it as an inevitable stage in revolutionary war – from terrorism to insurrection, as guerrilla warfare turns into to real war.
Personality... ruthless and starved for victory. He believes that false humanitarianism only leads to impotence. He’s willing to interrogate anyone and everyone until he gets all the information he needs on the FLN (Algeria’s National Liberation Front). Mathieu is frustrated by the laws and regulations that stifle his operation, as if it’s something other than a full out war.
Get to Know him in...
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Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
