The first European film to treat the explosive subject of colonialism and wars of liberation, The Battle of Algiers probably remains the most powerful. Pontecorvo's reconstruction of the Algerian rebellion against the French centers on Ali la Pointe, the FLN leader who conducts the campaign of rebellion while dodging the relentless and merciless French Colonel Mathieu. A flashback format and documentary precision give a palpable sense of inevitability to the terrible violence, but also to its result. In his book Film as a Subversive Art, Amos Vogel writes, "Because of its perfect fusion of form and content, this is one of the most strikingly successful subversive films ever made...Incredibly, this huge 'documentary' of the Algerian struggle against the French-street battles, bombings, riots, mass strikes, assassinations-was entirely staged, and made to resemble authentic newsreel shots by the use of...hand-held cameras and...jump cuts."