Ideology and discourse in cinema: The war of images between Algeria and France

Cinema, history, and politics have a dynamic relation; they are related and intertwined fields. The documentary film, in particular, is an essential historical tool for documenting the political events of countries. For instance, Algeria relied on documentary films to support the popular liberation revolution. Therefore it used cinema to represent the cause and condemn French colonialism by documenting its repression and crimes committed against a people calling for self-determination and independence. The National Liberation Front used Algerian cinema as counter-propaganda against French propaganda films. Algerian films, in turn, refuted the French allegations and decreased their credibility, which undermined its foreign policy and its image in front of the world. These two countries' films remained a witness to the intensity of the conflict and the ferocity of war between the two parties, each side trying to prove its positions and ideologies through cinema. This thesis is based on "Qualitative analysis Research" to examine and analyze the Ideology and discourse in cinema by discussing the crucial historical period in French and Algerian history. The years between 1954-1962 have witnessed brutal events, known as "The Algerian liberation war" or "The Algerian revolution," that remained for decades as a war without a name, unrecognized by the French authorities. This study relies on the approach of "critical discourse analysis" and content analysis methodology in analyzing both the Algerian film and the French film produced in the period of war to compare the opposite ideologies, and the political discourse addressed through cinema by the two countries. Furthermore, studying and analyzing these films is crucial to understand their impact on the people, the turn of events, and history in general and shedding light on how the same issue could be cinematically represented in totally different ways. Keywords: Critical discourse, Ideology, cinema, Algerian war, French Colonialism.