If man is born with the right to revolt against the occupation of his country, where and how does morality come into play?

“The Battle of Algiers” Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo 121 mins., black & white Available through The Criterion Collection

A society under the occupation of a foreign country has an inalienable right to revolution.

Sadly, no revolution or counterattack is generally successful without the use of force, violence or random acts of terror. Torture, crimes and atrocious acts of brutality are all tools implemented by both revolutionaries and occupying forces throughout history.

These are just the kind of brutal images implemented in Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 tour-de-force “The Battle of Algiers.”

Shot in black and white and using a documentary style that puts the viewer in the thick of the chaos, the film documents the Algerian uprising against the French in the 1950s.

It is difficult as a viewer to side with either the revolutionaries or the French, both of whom use deplorable means to reach their goals. Under the direction of Col. Mathieu (Jean Martin), the French army systematically hunts down and eliminates the Algerian radicals through the use of torture and violence.

The radicals, in turn, plant bombs in key locations around the city, killing both French and Algerian civilians — shown with gruesome realism through live television stock-style camerawork.

It is ultimately questionable whether these actions are justifiable on either side. Is the use of force the only course of action to right the wrongs of a society that has plunged into the depths of chaos?

It is assumed that humanity condemns acts of violence. We are raised with a sense of nausea at the thought of anyone who takes pleasure in another’s pain and suffering.

But if man is born with the right to revolt against the occupation of his country, where and how does morality come into play? Are individual human lives less important than the greater good of the objective at hand?

If revolution is a natural-born right then at what extreme does violence in the name of the greater good become immoral?

These are but a handful of topics that “The Battle of Algiers” addresses that bring to mind the current state of cacophony in the Middle East.

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