 Accused of portraying Mathieu as too elegant and noble, screenwriter Solinas denied that this was his intention.He said in an interview that the Colonel is "elegant and cultured, because Western civilization is neither inelegant nor uncultured".There are very important parallels drawn between the leader of the FLN in the film Ben H’midi and colonel Mathieu which adds to Pontecorvo’s showing of the equal atrocities of both sides.