Indigènes - Days of Glory...

Introduction

 

In 1940 France fell to the Blitzkrieg tactics of Hitler's Third Reich and General De Gaulle and the pitiful remains of the French Army (now the Free French Army) were exiled to England to lick their wounds, alongside the shattered British Expeditionary Force.  The Free French Army was severely down on its numbers and clearly couldn't recruit from its native land, so it did what any self-respecting imperial power would do.  It recruited from its colonies. 

It took until the invasion of North Africa to really take off, but France recruited 230,000 members of its colonies to fight for the motherland, a country that many of these men had heard of but never seen.  Kitted in a mix of English and US surplus kit, this ragtag army of dedicated warriors would lay down their lives for what they assumed would be a grateful nation.  It wasn't to be that way. 

Days of Glory is essentially the story of four men, members of the 7th Algerian Infantry Regiment; Saïd Otmari (Jamel Debbouze), Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem) and Yassir (Samy Naceri).  The four men are completely different characters who may never have become friends back in Algeria, but become close comrades with unbreakable bonds that are forged under fire.  Led by the harsh but sympathetic Sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan), the Algerians fight for France during the Italian campaign and then land in France to aid in the liberation of the motherland. 

It's not easy going though.  Saïd is an easygoing and naïve character who seems to find his place as Martinez' batman, bringing him coffee and clean shirts.  Abdelkader is looking for recognition and promotion from his French superiors and an equality that is sadly lacking for the Alegerian troops.  Souni finds himself involved in a romance with French woman Irène (Aurélie Eltvedt) who he met during the liberation of Marseilles, and Yassir is just trying to look after his younger brother Larbi (Assaad Bouab).  All struggle within the confines of a French Army that treats them as second-class citizens, despite the sacrifices that all of them will make in the attempt to free France. 

The original title of this film was Indigènes, a title that sums up the film better but would probably have hurt it at the box office, whereas the new title does fit in that it shows that there were forgotten heroes within the Allied armies that were not indigenous to the two big European countries involved in the war. 

You should also note, should you be thinking about this film, the following recognition that this war film received: 

2007 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language film 

2007 César Best Writing award for Rachid Bouchareb and Olivier Lorelle 

2006 Cannes Best Actor award for the ensemble cast 

2006 Cannes François Chalais award for director Rachid Bouchareb 

Picture/Sound

As you would expect from Blu-Ray, the picture really is superb.  I'm a late convert to BD and really thought that there wasn't much of a difference between this and DVD; I was wrong.  Whilst DVD pictures are clear, BD is pin sharp and there is much more detail to be seen. 

The Algerian soundtrack from Armand Amar and Cheb Khaled can be a little heavy handed at times but is quite an evocative and atmospheric score. 

Extras

An Introduction by Rachid Bouchareb - the director discusses the film and its impact 

Q&A with Rachid Bouchareb - another excerpt from the Al Jazeera show The Last Picture Show (as per Flame & Citron) 

The Making Of Days of Glory - an in-depth behind the scenes featurette that is pretty interesting, even if it focuses a bit too heavily on the antics of  Jamel Debbouze, who is quite funny it must be said. 

Historical Background - text-based extra that examines the real life inspiration behind the film 

Theatrical Trailer 

Overall

 

Days of Glory is a film that literally changed history.  In 1959 when the French colonies were getting ready for independence in the post-World War II era, France decided that it would freeze the pensions of its colonial veterans.  This was a rather immature and unjust move on their part, but meant that most Algerian veterans (who weren't alone by any means) would receive about a third less pension then French veterans of the same campaigns.    Successive French Governments have looked at this and done nothing, but in 2006 things changed.  President Chirac and his wife were invited to view this film and were moved so much that he formally recognised the injustice shown towards the Algerian veterans by awarding them full pension rights.  Not often a film has that much impact… 

Days of Glory is an important film is a number of respects.  Firstly it's a French film with a cast of Algerian stars, which severely hindered the ability of director/writer Rachid Bouchareb to get the finance he needed to make this film for a number of years.  There's a racism of sorts there, a recognition that perhaps no one would be interested in seeing a film about Algerian soldiers, no matter what they did in the name of France.  It would appear that they were wrong, thankfully. 

It is a strange thing that the conquering countries had on their colonial subjects.  Algeria is a prime example, but not a unique one by any means.  Shortly after colonising Algeria, the French slaughtered around 10,000 Algerians under the justification of pacification.  You'd think that these wounds would run deep, but bizarrely, the Algerians thought of themselves as French subjects and willingly answered the cry for help from De Gaulle after France fell.  The Algerians and the French weren't the only ones by any means, France had many other colonies and so did Britain and many other European countries.  All were as guilty as the other of both exploiting their subjects, and this without entering the debate of whether the Empires of these nations were a good or bad thing. 

Racism is a subject that runs right through this film.  The French people welcome the liberators in open arms, not bothered who freed them from Nazi rule and even entering into relationships with these Algerian soldiers.  The French Army weren't quite as welcoming though, despite the fact that German bullets didn't discriminate.  The Algerians were effectively second-class soldiers who would be used as a buffer between the French troops and the Germans, would be denied recognition for their fighting prowess and denied promotion.  They wouldn't even be allowed the same food, witness the near uprising over the fact that the cooks wouldn't allow black soldiers any fresh tomatoes.  Also the blossoming romance between Souni and Irène is cut off in its prime by discriminating Army mail censors, so despite the fact that both have been writing letters non-stop, neither receive any and neither knows what is happening to the other.  It's a rather sad reflection on a couple that do elicit sympathy from its audience.  One of the most damning aspects of this for me is the fact that some of the Algerian soldiers were equipped with sandals rather than boots.  I'm not sure if this was really a logistical problem but whilst it didn't seem to matter so much in Africa and Italy (the latter to a degree), it became a major issue in France when Winter arrived with snow, damp, and mud.  It all adds up to a major armed power that really didn't seem to care about the men who would die in their uniforms. 

I'd like to say that the British treat its colonial warriors better, but I'm think I'm right in thinking that we didn't and don't.  You only have to look at the Ghurka's and their Joanna Lumley-led campaign for the right to live in this country as one example of the injustices that our own forces suffer.  As an ex-soldier myself, albeit essentially a non-fighting one, I have the utmost respect for not only the Ghurkas but anyone who takes that oath to Queen and Country, and is ultimately willing to sacrifice their lives for our ideals.  The least we can do as a nation and Government is recognise this and reward these people correctly.  Equal pay, pensions and the right to settle seem to me to be basic rights of anyone who wears the uniform of the British Armed Forces, and I don't care where they come from.  That just seems the right thing to do.  Thankfully the British public seem to agree and only the Government seem out of touch here.  In a sign of solidarity, the makers of this film have allied themselves to the Ghurka cause and will hopefully have taken heart from the very recent decision to grant full settlement rights to our Nepalese soldiers. 

And who says that film can't change the course of history?