The first European film to treat the explosive subject of colonialism and wars of liberation, The Battle of Algiers remains one of the most powerful. Pontecorvo's dynamic reconstruction of the Algerian rebellion against the French centers on Ali La Pointe, the National Liberation Front leader who conducts the campaign of rebellion while dodging the relentless and merciless French Colonel Mathieu. The film was staged in the actual locations where the guerrilla conflict took place, and a flashback format and “documentary” precision-although, as Pontecorvo pointed out, “not one foot” of newsreel footage was used-give a palpable sense of inevitability to the terrible violence, and to its result.