Serious epic story of Muslims rising up against French colonialists. It's tense, gritty, violent and may have been an influence on Quentin Tarentino decades later. The main character is set up to shoot a policeman, but the gun handed off to him by a woman in a burkah is empty--it was a test of loyalty. There are lots of sneaky attacks with planted pistols (like in 'The Godfather') and machine gun battles in the streets. The army is called out and seals off the Muslim section of the city with razor wire, but the women get through. French cops and soldiers call them "dirty Arabs" but the Algerians use women to plant bombs in nightclubs and racetracks, but they clearly feel bad about what they're doing.
A skinny colonel (who always smokes) is called in who figures out the structure of the resistance movement (each member only knows 3 others.) Houses get blown up and the whole thing ends in a huge firefight. The whole story is told in flashback during a standoff. Excellent.
