René Vautier was a filmmaker-combatant and the director of the first anticolonial French film (Afrique 50); between 1956 and 1957, he made a documentary about and with the National Liberation Front during the war that would ultimately lead to Algerian independence in 1962. After meeting Frantz Fanon, and having ensured he was to be granted freedom of expression, Vautier immediately headed for the border between Tunisia and Algeria. The deal with the FLN was clear: Vautier would shoot for free alongside the maquisard, with 16mm Kodachrome film provided by the Algerians; the footage would have to be screened by the Algerian authorities, not for reasons of censorship but to ensure that the itineraries of the combatants were not disclosed.

The film depicts acts of resistance during wartime (the images of female soldiers are priceless) and in everyday life, as well as documenting the tragic massacre of Sakiet Sidi Youssef. Film processing took place in France and Germany but the film was printed in East Berlin; in order to avoid censorship, Vautier used the pseudonym Willi Müller. Three versions were produced, in French, German and Arabic, and the film was widely distributed (also thanks to the fact that the rights for the whole of Eastern Europe belonged to DEFA), but it was first shown in France only ten years later, in the Sorbonne during the student occupation. The film cost Vautier physical injuries and a long spell in prison, but he had no regrets. He would always claim that Algérie en flammes was a necessary film, for both France and Algeria, and that “the film camera is a weapon – not a weapon that kills, but rather an instrument of peace”.

Elena Correra