I chose this film to educate myself on the background of Michael Haneke’s 1995 film Hidden. I won’t go into details about that, but there is a history to the suffering of its characters, and that is October 17, 1961.

This French-Arabic film is constructed in the spirit of social realism, in an attempt to bring to light a violent political event that has been supposedly swept under the carpet by France. It chronologically depicts the events leading up to the killing and disappearances of peaceful Algerian protesters.

Watching this, I became infuriated by the French cops with their Hitler-esque moustaches, relishing their batons, and intimidating hard-working Algerian men. French Ministers made big decisions about small people from their opulent offices; their smirking faces contrasting with the grief-ridden expressions of Algerians in slums.

Social realism is a powerful genre and can be dangerous because it tries to be absolutely truthful. But of course, it is just a construction of events as someone imagines them, whatever the political intention might be.

With this in mind, October 17, 1961 has been made using a doco-fiction style of handheld camera technique, news items and reconstructed archival footage. I believe it sets out to convince me that someone else was to blame for the French-Algerian civil warfare in France.

There isn’t much time to get to know characters, but there is a political complexity depicted in the dealings of the people involved in the conflict. Rather than just blaming, the film seems to be arguing for a redress of French history.

This film is worth the watch.