{"id":32051,"date":"2021-09-30T07:31:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T07:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=32051"},"modified":"2021-09-30T10:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T10:30:18","slug":"saadi-yacef-battle-of-algiers-catalyst-and-actor-dies-at-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/saadi-yacef-battle-of-algiers-catalyst-and-actor-dies-at-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Saadi Yacef, \u2018Battle of Algiers\u2019 Catalyst and Actor, Dies at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Saadi<\/div>
Saadi Yacef, second from left, in a scene from \u201cThe Battle of Algiers,\u201d a movie by Gillo Pontecorvo about the war between Algerian independence fighters and France. Mr. Yacef had fought in the war, and his writings were the basis for the movie.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>British Film Institute\/Rialto Pictures<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Neil<\/a><\/div>\n
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By\u00a0<\/span>Neil Genzlinger<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sept. 21, 2021<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Saadi Yacef, a revolutionary leader who fought French rule in Algeria in the 1950s and then set in motion \u2014 and acted in \u2014 \u201cThe Battle of Algiers,\u201d Gillo Pontecorvo\u2019s acclaimed 1966 film about the long anti-colonialism struggle, died on Sept. 10 in Algiers, the capital. He was 93.<\/p>\n

His daughter Zaphira Yacef, who confirmed the death, said he had had heart problems.<\/p>\n

Mr. Yacef became involved in opposition movements while still a teenager and in 1954 joined the Front de Lib\u00e9ration Nationale, the F.L.N., the leading nationalist organization during the war for independence. The war lasted from 1954 to 1962, ending with the country\u2019s liberation from France.<\/p>\n

He became the organization\u2019s military chief in Algiers in 1956, ordering bombings and other guerrilla attacks until his arrest by French paratroopers the next year in the part of the city known as the casbah. He was sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was in prison the executions were always done at dawn,\u201d he told The Sunday Herald of Glasgow, Scotland, in 2007, \u201cso when I saw the sun coming through the prison bars I knew I was going to live through another day. But I was very certain that I would be executed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Charles de Gaulle, who was elected president of France in 1958, eventually set Mr. Yacef free. That began an entirely different chapter in Mr. Yacef\u2019s life. While in prison he had written \u201cSouvenirs de la Bataille d\u2019Alger\u201d (\u201cMemories of the Battle of Algiers\u201d), his account of a particularly violent three-year portion of the war.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for the Movies Update Newsletter\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>A weekly roundup of movie reviews, news, stars and awards-season analysis.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Once Algeria became independent, the F.L.N., ruling the country, sought to commission a film about the freedom fight, with Mr. Yacef leading the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time,\u201d he told Le Monde in 2004, \u201ceveryone swore by Italian neorealism. That\u2019s why I went to Italy to look for a screenwriter and a director for \u2018The Battle of Algiers.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With a script based on his book, he met with Mr. Pontecorvo, who was said to have been considering his own movie about the Algerian War, one that he hoped would star Paul Newman as a French paratrooper turned journalist. Mr. Yacef and his backers nixed that idea, and Mr. Pontecorvo found Mr. Yacef\u2019s script propagandistic, but they continued to talk. Mr. Yacef arranged to bring Mr. Pontecorvo and his screenwriter, Franco Solinas, to Algiers for an extended stay so they could study up on the revolution, see locations where the fighting had occurred and meet people who had fought.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0resulting movie<\/a>, filmed in Algeria with Mr. Yacef as a producer, had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1966 and caused a sensation for its startling realism. Some scenes, especially of bombings, looked so authentic that the film in its initial showings was preceded by a disclaimer saying that no newsreel footage had been used.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saadi Yacef, second from left, in a scene from \u201cThe Battle of Algiers,\u201d a movie by Gillo Pontecorvo about the war between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-algeria","category-historyheritage"],"yoast_head":"\nSaadi Yacef, \u2018Battle of Algiers\u2019 Catalyst and Actor, Dies at 93 - AAH.JZR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/saadi-yacef-battle-of-algiers-catalyst-and-actor-dies-at-93\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saadi Yacef, \u2018Battle of Algiers\u2019 Catalyst and Actor, Dies at 93 - 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