5/5 A sweeping war picture
  by Z. Freeman (Austin, TX)
What is there to say about a film as moving, triumphant, and expertly executed on all accounts as "Days of Glory"? Its praises have been sung by most reviewers, even earning an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film. "Days of Glory" is an Americanized title, but one that still manages to capture the essence of the film. The original Algerian title is Indigenes, a word used to describe the hundreds of thousands of indigenous soldiers from colonial Africa who fought for France in World War II. Clearly "Indigenous Soldiers" isn't as powerful a title.

Although "Days of Glory" is a sweeping war picture that has been aptly compared to other war dramas like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Glory", at heart it is still a character study, focusing on four Muslim soldiers as they maneuver through the rough terrain on the war field, and the somewhat rougher terrain of racial inequality and injustice in their own camp. Prepared to battle for what they call the "motherland", the North African soldiers who signed up find themselves unsure of how to react to the rampant racism demonstrated by their sergeants.

Each character may be a well-known archetype of war movies (the headstrong leader, the humble and uneducated soldier, the mercenary, the lover) but each actor has the skill and the desire to flesh these characters out into completely realistic and believable people. The acting is intense and honest and watching these men throughout their mission is all the more moving as we are able to see real emotions, desires, and fears. These actors have completely invested themselves into the film, and into their characters, earning a special male ensemble award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the "making of" documentary included on the DVD, lead actor (and producer) Jamel Debbouze tells of how director Rachid Bouchareb approached his four main actors not only with the script, but also with the paperwork showing that each of their grandfathers had actually been involved in the war. This may shed some light on the dedication these men showed in telling this important story. A story so important that it led to French President Jacques Chirac restoring the pensions of the empire veterans (whose pensions we learn in the film were frozen in 1959). In the film's touching final moments, as one of the leads walks the streets in anonymity, we begin to fully understand the completely unrewarded sacrifice these men have made for a country that chose not to reward them... until almost 50 years later.

Bouchareb has finally brought his dream project to life. After trying to get it produced for over a decade, it is abundantly clear that the final product justifies the wait and the effort on so many levels. "Days of Glory" is the kind of film that inspires people to accomplish more and to look for the greatness in others.

4/5 A movie worth watching!
  by L Gontzes (Athens, Greece)
Days of Glory, brings to the screen a WWII tale of a French Algerian Unit facing discrimination by its European counterparts due to prejudice and ignorance.
It is 1943 and the setting is North Africa. The French armed forces are preparing to land troops in Europe to win back their homeland from the Axis Powers, but they cannot accomplish their task without recruiting men from their African colonies. The Africans themselves start their long journey full of hope and anticipation, but as they get closer to their goal they realize that their enemy is not necessarily the Germans...
Jamel Debbouze (Asterix and Obelix-Mission Cleopatra) and the rest of the cast carry out their performances very well.
In short, the music, the acting, the plot, the setting (!), and the dialogues are all very good.
In a nutshell, Days of Glory is movie definitely worth watching, as it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment.


5/5 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity': Nationalism and its Abuses
  by Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)
'Indigènes' (DAYS OF GLORY) as written by Olivier Lorelle and Rachid Bouchareb (who also directed) is a film of visceral power, another aspect of World War II that has not been addressed and that points to problems of inequality among fighting troops that still exists. It is a grisly film (how can a film about war not be?) but shares a viewpoint that is as shocking as it is important.

During WWII the French military incorporated African men including a large number of Algerian soldiers to fight the Nazis and protect France (and, yes, its protectorates) from oppression. The story focuses on four of these Algerian soldiers who leave their homeland to fight for the ideals of France yet are victims of discrimination and inequality of treatment and advancement, even when they are selected to perform the most hazardous of duties. The men vary from idealist to illiterate but their sense of camaraderie is rock solid: Saïd Otmari (Jamel Debbouze) is unable to read or write and has only one arm, yet he is devoted to his mission of saving France and hence his family in Algeria; Yassir (Samy Naceri) proves to be a marksman and is the one selected to be front man during the most dangerous encounters; Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem) finds solace in the love of a French girl Irène (Aurélie Eltvedt) but his communications with her are censured by the military; Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) is the natural leader among the four yet is not advanced in rank when the Frenchmen are. The only non-Algerian who is supportive of these men is Sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan) who attempts intervention with the French over the disillusioned Algerians. In many ways the story is related through the reactions of Abdelkader, especially the heartbreaking ending.

It is the final act of courage when these four men are assigned to assist the American forces in Alsace, an assignment so devastatingly dangerous that no other French forces would accept, that the love and devotion of these men is supremely tested. And as the fragile victory over the Nazis is claimed by the French, we see the last of the Algerian quartet walk unnoticed and uncelebrated through the freed Alsatian town. If the 60 years later ending of the film is a bit maudlin for some viewers, it still makes a solid statement about the courage of these men, fighting for a 'motherland' that all but ignored them. And the story is true!

The battle scenes are realistic, the acting is first caliber, and the production values are excellent, including the cinematography by Patrick Blossier and a musical score by Armand Amar and Cheb Khaled that enhances every aspect of a multicultural war. This is a film about WW II that stands with the best of the stories about the physical and emotional atrocities that war produces. In French and Arabic with subtitles. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 07

4/5 Long overdue.
  by Gogol (England)
An intense film that while has often been compared to Saving Private Ryan other than them both being war films has very little in common.

The film depicts Algerian soldiers who had volunteered to fight in the French army during world war 2. The film begins with a village elder in Algeria calling upon the men to fight for the 'motherland' France against German occupation. When enlisted, they are brought together with North African troops who had already been fighting in North Africa and were to be posted to France. They are put under the command of an Algerian born French officer, given the most basic of training and then sent to the front.

Their first battle is to take a hilltop heavily fortified by German forces. While suffering heavy casualties they manage to capture the position. Encouraged by their success and now with valuable military experience they are greeted as heroes in France. Still prejudice is never far away. The first most obvious example we are give is when on board a boat the men are receiving a meal however, the chef refuses to give a tomato to a black soldier resulting in a minor mutiny that is only quelled when their commanding officer assures them that all will receive the same rations.

The army unit moves to the mountains where they are commanded to hold positions in freezing conditions while white French troops are given leave, finally they are given leave only to return back to be given a mission to hold a small French village under near impossible conditions.

Much of the film is given to developing each character. One is an illiterate man from a village, incapable of making his own decisions and quickly falls under the leadership of his commanding officer. Another is a fairly well educated man who seeks promotion in the army and sees himself as a career officer. Then we have two brothers and a man who falls in love with a local girl and hopes that when the war ends, he may return to her and settle down in Marseilles. Finally, there is their commanding officer, who while born in Algeria sees himself as very much French with something of a colonial contempt for the Arabs while keeping a dark secret hidden.

While there is ample time for character development and throughout the film you do come to relate to the characters I found it interesting that the black African soldiers barely said a word (Other than complain about not getting a tomato) and played very much a background role. No doubt they were Senegalese troops due to their dress and there does exists a fair amount of racism towards black Africans by some Arabs so I would have been interested to see something of that examined in the film. I felt the simple "All us colonials together" A little far fetched.

That out of the main characters one it seems wishes to remain in France, another begins to feel increasingly that while Fighting for the freedom of France that should also extend to his own people I found quite realistic. I have spoken to many Africans who had fought during the second word war and many tell of how on returning from the war saw the freedom of their own nation just as important as the freedom of Britain or France for which they fought.

The fact that it has took so long to recognise the contribution of 'colonial' troops during the second world war both in the cinema and in history books may go some way to explain why some would see this film as 'politically correct' The fact that France frozen the pensions of these men who fought to free their country is a source of shame.

This is a touching film. One of the concluding scenes where after the Algerian troops having fought so bravely to defend the village the photographer takes pictures of white troops celebrating with local villages was an excellent way in showing how history has been whitewashed.

Well worth watching.

5/5 Days of Glorious filmmaking
  by Olde American (Richmond, Virginia)
While we are all aware that the French had their sorry rear ends saved by us good old American boys and our stodgy yet noble allies in England, many of us are unaware that indigenous Algerians also played a role in saving the French's sorry rear ends from their Nazi masters, and given the current state of French politics it would appear the French are also mighty ungrateful to the Algerians, though perhaps this film can change that. It shows the struggle that the colonized people, being lauded over and belittled by the French nobly sacrificed their own well-being to free France from tyranny, with the hopes that one day they would be freed from French tyranny, naturally the French screwed them out of their veterans status after the war and out of their pensions....typical....but perhaps in French youngsters see this they'll have more respect for the old Arab man up the street, given that if it weren't for that old Arab man (As well as the old American and old Englishman), then they'd be speaking German. Wonderful part of World War II that doesn't get much press.