Numbers

Manifesto of the 121

How It's Used

"Although wealthy, [Nathalie Sarraute] belonged to the French intellectual left, supported many causes and was one of the writers who signed the 'Manifesto of the 121' in 1960 that contributed to the ending of the Algerian war."

"In 1960, with the Algerian war raging, [Jean] Martin was one of the signatories of the Manifesto of the 121, which called on the government to recognise the war as a legitimate struggle for independence, denouncing the use of torture by the army and calling for conscientious objectors to be respected by the authorities. Such were the times that Martin, who was performing at the state-funded Theatre National Populaire, had his contract annulled. He was also banned from radio and television. Finding it difficult to secure work, he was forced to go to Helsinki, where he was offered an acting job.

"Six years later, he was the only professional actor in Gillo Pontecorvo's extraordinary 'The Battle of Algiers' (1966), in which he brilliantly played Colonel Mathieu, the tough, chain-smoking paratroop commander entrusted by the government with putting down the revolt. Martin's convincing performance is the more chilling as he plays the colonel as a man just doing his job, even if it involves torture. The film was banned for some years in France, and the torture scenes cut on its first release in the UK."

Links