The documentary aesthetic is enhanced due to the fact that Pontecorvo chose not to use professional actors, but instead he used Algerians he met who had no prior experience of acting. They were picked mainly based on their appearance and what effect Pontecorvo thought they would have within the film. He only used one professional actor, Jean Martin, who played Colonel Mathieu. On the one hand this goes well with Pontecorvo’s idea of realism as the actors were unknown to the film’s audience, making it more realistic.
On the contrary to this, as a result of the cast being non-professionals, some lines had to be dubbed when putting the film together, for example when Colonel Mathieu uses a megaphone telling members of the FLN to surrender. This