Review of Days of Glory (2006) by Steve R — 19 Nov 2008

During World Wars, the European powers that held colonies would ask the colonized to fight for them even though the colonized had no direct connection to those that they were being trained to kill and were not guaranteed much in return for dying on behalf of their colonizers.

This is a French film (French title is Indigènes which means Natives) about North Africans from the French occupied territories of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, who are enlisted into the French First Army to fight for non-Vichy France.

During the liberation of Italy our band of four soldiers that the film follows develops a reputation for courage in close combat and surviving some of the most dangerous battles. Soon they are dispatched to France to liberate a town in the dead of winter and here is where our drama takes a tragic turn but it is only the first in a series that still plague France today.

That being the treatment of French Africans as a population to be discriminated against no matter what they have done for the Republic.

Our four soldiers all have different motivations: money, escaping poverty, to settle in France, and to make the republic live up to its ideals. Each one is put against the buzz saw of reality as the film progresses with predictable results.

What makes the film work is the way it is done. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, a French Algerian himself, the constant mistreatment of the soldiers is put in great contrast to their heroics, especially when they are liberating France. This sets up the tragedy but also gives you a vast perspective of how pervasive this discrimination is in French society.

It reminded me of the â??The Big Red Oneâ?? and â??Saving Private Ryanâ?? with a French twist.

The film closes with the reminder that the French Government refused to pay the soldiers from the colonies their pensions forcing them to live in poverty. Days of Glory was so powerful that, after its release, the government reversed its policy.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but lost to The Lives of Others which it should have but, had it been an other year, Days of Glory would have walked away with the Oscar.