Production Companies Tessalit Productions, Kiss Films (co-production), France 2 Cinéma (co-production), France 3 Cinéma (co-production), Studio Canal (co-production), Taza Productions (co-production), Tassili Films (co-production), La Petite Reine (in association with), Ver
It takes a fierce and complicated patriotism for a soldier to march off to war in defense of his own colonizer, and such soldiers make for fascinating history. In chronicling the heroism of North Africans who fought for France during World War II, Rachid Bouchareb's stirring Indigènes takes its place beside Edward Zwick's Glory as an essential wartime drama.
In 1943, France had been under German rule for three years. In order to throw off Nazi control, the First French Army was recruited in Africa, composed mostly of 130,000 North Africans who were contemptuously dubbed indigènes - "natives." Bouchareb immediately draws the vast sweep of the story to a human level, introducing four young men who choose to fight for the French, each for his own reasons. Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) is a true believer, volunteering to defend the French ideals of liberte, egalite, fraternite. Yassir (Samy Nacéri) hopes to collect riches along the way, while Saïd (Jamel Debbouze) simply wants to escape his family's crushing poverty. Messaoud (Roschdy Zem) is entranced by France and yearns to see the country of his dreams. Maybe he can even meet a French girl.
Messaoud does finally meet his Gallic angel, but triumph is inevitably mixed with disappointment; this is a persistent theme in Indigènes. Entrenched bigotry grinds down the hopes of men for whom simple respect is essential - and yet they soldier on. Bouajila is especially impressive as Abdelkader, who reminds his African brothers of their rights under France and volunteers for a potentially deadly mission in Alsace in the hope of proving his worth. Saïd works as an effective foil to Abdelkader; he is so servile to the colonel that the other soldiers deride him by calling him Aicha, a woman's name. Debbouze brings heartbreaking pathos to the role, and through him we see exactly how submissiveness can erupt into rage.
There has never been a WWII film quite like Rachid Bouchareb’s DAYS OF GLORY, which shows the "good war" through the eyes of four North African soldiers fighting for the French army during the German occupation. Though similar in both structure and tone to Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, GLORY seeks recognition for soldiers who were treated as second-class citizens during their service and never given their due. Under the leadership of Sergeant Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a company of North African soldiers undergoes a series of skirmishes across Italy and France, preventing the advance of the Nazis. Uneducated Said (Jamel Debbouzel, AMELIE), who had few options outside of enlistment, acts as a virtual servant to Martinez. Yassir (Samy Naceri) and his brother, Larbi (Assad Bouab), also come from poverty and--though they joined for selfish reasons--are fierce fighters. Messaoud (Roschdy Zem) is strong and silent, and has deadly aim with a rifle. Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), however, is the ambitious one, unafraid to speak up when he and his company encounter prejudice, yet ever hopeful that he will be recognized for his achievements and be given the same liberty, equality, and fraternity as those who were born French. Through a series of bloody and spectacular battles with the Germans, these men risk their lives, never knowing what they will have at the end of it all.
DAYS OF GLORY packs all the punch of a great war film---thrilling and heartbreaking battles, humor, and the loss of people we grow to care for. Bouchareb fearlessly uses a time-honored genre to address an elephant in the French living room: we are told at the film’s conclusion that, in 1952, France voted to cease pension payments to soldiers from countries no longer under French rule. In 2006, following a screening of this film, Jacques Chirac reinstituted their pensions.
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