Indigènes

The movie takes the viewer on a trip back to the second world war, showing how parts of the Arabic population fought with the French colonists for their freedom, against Nazi Germany trying to occupy Africa. As the movie evolves, other aspects than the fight for freedom and the brutality of war emerges. The viewer is reminded that the the social identity of the white bourgeoisie class and the stereotypes that follows not emerged with the current world of terrorism. Questions of power, humanity, religion, racism, love and honour follows the viewer through this exciting, emotional and realistic movie. Along with the plot and acting in this piece of work, the critical viewer should be satisfied.

I did not know what to expect from this movie starring guys like Djamel Debbouzze or Samy Naceri, more used to non sense jokes and wrong way taxi driving, but I must say I was astonished.

First pictures are beautiful, dialogs and pace slow but efficient.

Second the way the four main characters perform is great (although Naceri is maybe not quite as good as the three others). All moved by different motivations, they have a sole dream: to be a real part of it, a part of the French country they have been fighting for. And they make you believe it. Not only because they fit perfectly into their roles, but also because the suffering and the inequalities they undergo in the war fields of the movie still exist six decades after in their every day life.

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". True it was in Provence or in Alsace, true it is in today's France.

To me this film is more than the French Private Ryan, it is a subtle way to ask: "how much more is it going to take before we can all be on the same boat ?" Go and see it.

Days of Glory (Indigénes) can boast that it was the most important if not the most successful of the five films in the Oscars' Best Foreign Film category. After French Premier Jacques Chirac saw the film, he agreed to compensate all North Africans who fought in World War II by unfreezing their pensions, a result the director Rachid Bouchareb worked hard to achieve. Though conventional in its technique and lacking in any real character development, Days of Glory, a French Moroccan Algerian co-production, is an involving and heartfelt film whose outstanding ensemble cast won the award for Best Actor at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

The film depicts a group of North African volunteers who enlist in the French army to support the French resistance against the Nazis during World War II. The fact that they are fighting for a lesser group of colonial oppressors against a more virile one does not enter their mind and they are ecstatic with the thrill of being on French soil for the first time. Their shabby treatment, however, by bigots in the French army who deny them the privileges that they take for granted becomes the centerpiece of the film. Unlike the French, the North African recruits are not granted leave to visit their families, are not promoted, and are not even allowed tomatoes with their dinner.

The film opens in 1943 as the enlisted men say goodbye to their families in Algeria, Morocco, and Senegal to join the fight against the Germans. Bouchareb follows four men: Said (James Debbouze), a young Algerian is moved to enlist by a recruiter's sloganeering and his own desire to escape his economic hardship; Yassir (Samy Naceri) who joins in Morocco even though he cannot help being bitter toward the French government that killed his family in the name of pacification.

We later meet Messaoud (Roschdy Zem), a solid marksman who falls for a young French woman but their correspondence is intercepted and censored by the French and his "no luck" tattoo on his neck turns out to be prophetic. The strongest character in the film is Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), whose outspokenness against the injustice shown to North African soldiers keeps him from being promoted but earns him a strong following. Said develops a close relationship with Sergeant Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a by the book Captain who nonetheless speaks up for the dedication of his men but when Said happens to suggest that Martinez is part Arab, their relationship ends swiftly and dramatically.

The high point of the film is the battle for a village in Alsace. It is a tense, emotionally harrowing sequence that is the equal of anything in Saving Private Ryan. Days of Glory has a strong point of view but is not didactic. It simply lets us see the face of discrimination against Arab soldiers during the war and the tension that arose in the French army because of it, a harbinger of colonial wars and urban tensions to follow. While the film unfortunately ends on a clichéd note, it is still quite moving and makes sure the brave soldiers from North Africa are acknowledged for their contribution, sadly overlooked these many years.

In World War II, the Muslims from French colonies enlist to fight for their motherland France. In the 7th battalion commanded by the tough Sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan), the soldier Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) has leadership with the troop and seeks promotion and recognition from the command; Said Otmari (Jamel Debbouze) is a servile and illiterate private, happy in serving his sergeant; Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem) is the sniper of the group and has fallen in a corresponded love with the French Irène (Aurélie Eltvedt); and Yassir (Samy Naceri) is fighting together with his brother to raise some money. Along the campaign in Italy, France and Alsace, they realize that French soldiers are promoted, have better food and have leaves to visit their families, while the Arab soldiers are shamefully discriminated and treated like 2nd ranking soldiers.

"Indigènes" is an excellent movie of war, disclosing an unusual theme: the discrimination of the soldiers from the French colonies in World War II. The anti-Semitism is presented in most of the films about WWII; racism and segregation with the American soldiers has been explored in a couple of movies; but the treatment spent to the Arab soldiers in World War II by France command is the first time that I see in a movie. The screenplay, the direction, the performances, the pace and the cinematography are great and gives a magnificent homage to these forgotten and discriminated heroes. The lack of payment of pension plan to the survivors and families by the French government is another example of the level of intolerance and lack of respect in the world of the present days. In the end, it is a great deception that the beautiful message "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" is not applicable to the soldiers from the exploited colonies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Dias de Glória" ("Days of Glory")

For the first time this year the Weinstein Company has made something bearable --Hell, actually something good. The film is called Days of Glory (a title strangely reconfigured from Indigènes) and it chronicles a regiment in the war against Nazism, or, as the French call it, "liberty". But, the catch here is that these soldiers, they aren't French: They're Algerian and Morroquian. The film first suffers from superfluous paper-mâché clichés in order to demonstrate racial inequality, not as a subtle character study, but rather as an insolent whole which creates that annoying been-there, done-that feeling. Such a scene occurs when Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) realizes that not all African troops are getting tomatoes, where as the French are. What does he do? He smashes them so "Nobody can have them". Director Rachid Bouchareb narrative is also first a bit fragmented, jumping from country to country as if they were stones. Eventually, it develops into an assured rhythm which corroborates with the film.

Brilliance in Days of Glory neither comes from ideas nor direction, but rather, through the magisterial acting, prized at Cannes, and small war vignettes. They are gripping and moving, like all war movies should be. These war scenes are powerful, and that is what makes up Days of Glory, because in the end, Days of Glory is one of the few good but flawed war films worth a damn. It has power and it is evident that it uses it wisely and vigorously.