Gillo Pontecorvo, director of The Battle of Algiers and Burn!, has passed away at the age of 87 on Tuesday. While I’ve never been nearly as in love with The Battle of Algiers as many, Burn! is a favorite of mine, with an incredible Brando performance and a knotty, involving plot that stands as one of the defining cinematic critiques of colonialism. The passing of two important politically-minded filmmakers in recent days (Daniele Huillet being the first) really underscores how tepid and uninteresting most modern-day ‘political’ filmmaking is - compare The Battle of Algiers to, say, Babel, and you realize how much the sheer depth of analysis has bottomed-out. What’s remarkable about Pontecorvo’s cinema is how strong his sense of politics is while still keeping his work grounded in strong narratives.

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