This movie is enjoying something of a rebirth. It is important, however, to know how to separate fact from fiction. This is a movie that glorifies the winner, for all that it is remarkably even-handed. Remember that the FLN was decisively beaten in this fight... their later victory came at the political table. Read "A Savage War of Peace" and “Battle of the Casbah” if you want the whole story.

This one is hard to find... it's out of print. Make the effort. This is the fictionalized movie version of "Coup d'etat, A Practical Handbook" by Edward Luttwak... which is well worth reading. This movie turns Luttwak's treatise into an account of how, once you get on a slippery slope, it's hard to keep from sliding. Hint: Watch for some sly historical jokes in the names of the major characters.

It wasn't that long ago that the USA was a tribalized society, divided sharply along ethnic lines. This is a movie about that time, when people were willing to kill out of virulent hatred of those who would change their cherished ways.