Gaston Revel, a schoolteacher in Algeria

Gaston Revel, a schoolteacher in Algeria (2021)

DocumentaryHistoryWar

In 1936, Gaston Revel entered the École Normale in Algiers, where he was supposed to learn how to "educate the native." It was also during this time that he began to take an interest in politics: he was drawn to the Popular Front, then to Spanish anarchism, and finally to communism. From 1940 to 1955, he taught in Algeria, first in rural areas, then in Bejaia. He returned to Europe because of the war and landed in Provence in September 1914, following the Allied advance. It was in Bejaia, in 1945, that he became fully committed to the Algerian Communist Party: in 1953, he ran for municipal office in the second electoral district (reserved for Algerians) and sat alongside the Muslims. In 1955, at the beginning of the war, he was forced to leave Algeria against his will. But, like thousands of other "red feet," he returned there in 1962 and resumed his teaching career. From all those years, he left a complete and deeply committed record, many letters, notebooks, and newspaper articles.

Director: Pierre Mathiote

Casts

	Gaston Revel as Self (archive footage)
	Ahmed Ben Bella as Self (archive footage)
	Alain Ruscio as Self
	Hervé Alleg as Self (archive footage)
	Maurice Lurot as Self (archive footage)
	Jacques Cantier as Self
	Alexis Sempé as Self
	Sylvie Thénault as Self
	Pierre Mathiote as Narrator
	Eric Mie as Voice of Gaston Revel

Crew