The Battle of Algiers (1966) — Banned in France for Five Years

Gillo Pontecorvo's reconstruction of the 1954-57 Algiers insurgency was shot in a newsreel style so convincing that the film opens with a card confirming not one frame of documentary footage was used. It won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1966 and did not reach French cinemas until 1971. The Pentagon screened it in 2003 for officers heading to Iraq.