For our 4^th entry in the Punk & Politics film series we will screen one of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo,  which vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today.

The Battle of Algiers (1966) trailer

The second feature is "Rodrigo D. No Futuro"  a glimpse into the lives of a group of Medellin teenagers, living a pointless existence. With no opportunity for work, or escape, they spend their days hanging out in the streets, drinking, and sometimes robbing people who they see as being in a better position than themselves. Never having money unless they rob someone or sell some stolen goods, they have nothing, and nothing to lose. Rodrigo, according to his sister, is a bum, with no ambition, and no purpose in life. This is not really true, as he does have one dream, and that is to start a punk band. To do this, he needs a set of drums…

Filmed using amateur actors taken right of the streets--several of whom were murdered before the film was released--Rodrigo D: No Futuro is a gritty and hauntingly realistic look into hopelessness of street life that won't easily be forgotten.

Rodrigo D: No Futuro trailer

Suburbia is the definitive punxploitation film of the 80's, one of Hollywood's few explorations of that counter-culture. Director Spheeris, who also did "Dudes" and "Decline of Western Civilization" before going mainstream, knows enough to make a perfectly romantic (if not realistic) version of punks and skins living in the 80's: complete with shows (on a rickety sound stage, but there's a better circle pit than you're likely to find today), fights with rednecks, squatting, and dealing with a decade where every jock didn't have an eyebrow ring and green hair. You know what? Chickenbutt.

Suburbia (1983) trailer

It’s 1968, and the whole world is watching. With the U.S. in social upheaval, famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler decided to make a film about what the hell was going on. Medium Cool, his debut feature, plunges us into the moment. With its mix of fictional storytelling and documentary technique, this depiction of the working world and romantic life of a television cameraman (Robert Forster) is a visceral cinematic snapshot of the era, climaxing with an extended sequence shot right in the middle of the riots surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. An inventive commentary on the pleasures and dangers of wielding a camera, Medium Cool is as prescient a political film as Hollywood has ever produced.

Medium Cool (1969) trailer