Days of Glory (2006 film)
Days of Glory | |
---|---|
French | Indigènes |
Directed by | Rachid Bouchareb |
Written by | Rachid Bouchareb Olivier Lorelle |
Produced by | Jean Bréhat Jacques-Henri Bronckart |
Starring | Jamel Debbouze Samy Naceri Sami Bouajila Roschdy Zem Bernard Blancan |
Cinematography | Patrick Blossier |
Music by | Armand Amar Khaled |
Distributed by | Mars Distribution (France)[1] Belga Films (Belgium)[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 123 minutes |
Countries | France Morocco Belgium Algeria |
Languages | Arabic French |
Budget | $14.5 million |
Box office | $22.5 million[2] |
Days of Glory (
The film deals with the contribution of
Cast members Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila and Bernard Blancan all won the
Plot
In
Saïd, an impoverished goat herder, joins the 7th RTA (Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens). With him are other Algerians including Messaoud, who wants to marry and settle in France, and the literate Corporal Abdelkader, who seeks equality with settlers for the indigenous people of his country. There are also two Moroccan brothers Yassir and Larbi, Yassir's aim being booty so that Larbi can afford to marry.
Soon the men, dressed in mostly
The troops of the 7th RTA next embark for Operation Dragoon, to liberate the south of France.[5] While aboard ship, a French cook refuses to give tomatoes to indigènes soldiers. Abdelkader calls for equality, but mutiny is averted when Martinez and the company captain promise that everyone will be treated the same.
On arrival at Marseille, the colonial troops are greeted as heroes. Messaoud meets and courts Irène, a French woman, promising when the regiment leaves that he will write and one day return. She says she'll wait for him and they will marry. However, due to censorship of soldiers' mail, Irène never learns Messaoud's fate.
Saïd becomes Martinez's orderly, for which the other soldiers call him "girlie" and imply he's gay. Eventually he snaps and holds a knife to Messaoud's throat. Abdelkader calms the situation, but Saïd makes it clear that in this segregated world the French authorities will not give their colonial soldiers anything. Having seen among Martinez's possessions a family photograph, while drinking with the sergeant Saïd mentions that the two of them are similar in both having an Arab mother. The NCO attacks him and threatens to kill him if he reveals this secret.
The colonial troops discover that, while they are not granted leave, French members of the Free French Forces are allowed trips home. Eventually the men are told they will be going home, but it's a ruse; instead, they are billeted behind the lines and given a ballet performance. Bored and disillusioned, most leave the tent and hold a meeting outside decrying the injustice. Martinez challenges the group, led by Abdelkader, and a fight starts.
Early next morning, French
As they cross the German lines, most of the men are killed by a booby trap, including Yassir's brother, and Martinez is severely injured. The survivors mostly want to go back, but Abdelkader rallies them to push on. Eventually the corporal, Saïd, Messaoud, Yassir and the wounded Martinez reach an Alsatian village. Over the next few days the soldiers ingratiate themselves into the area and Saïd befriends a milkmaid. When a unit of Germans arrives into the village, a battle breaks out. Messaoud is badly hurt by a Panzerschreck rocket and then shot by a German rifleman. Saïd attempts to evacuate Martinez, but they are both shot by the Panzerschreck, killing Saïd and further wounding Martinez, who is quickly finished off. Abdelkader and Yassir attempt to flee, but Yassir is shot in the back by a German. However, just as the corporal is cornered, more colonial reinforcements arrive and drive the Germans out of the village.
As columns of Free French forces begin to move through the area, Abdelkader sees the colonel passing in his jeep, but the commanding officer ignores him and he is pulled away by a staff officer who asks him where his unit is. When Abdelkader says they are all dead, he is simply assigned to another French NCO. As he walks out of the village, he passes a film cameraman filming only white French troops standing by the liberated villagers. The villagers, however, applaud Abdelkader as he leaves.
The movie then moves to the present day. An elderly Abdelkader goes to a war cemetery in Alsace to visit the graves of his comrades: Martinez, Larbi, Saïd, Yassir and Messaoud. He then returns to his small rundown flat in modern-day France. The film concludes with the caption that from 1959 pensions for servicemen from France's overseas possessions living in France enjoyed no increases after the date their country of origin became independent.
Cast
- Jamel Debbouze - Saïd Otmari
- Samy Naceri - Yassir
- Roschdy Zem - Messaoud Souni
- Sami Bouajila - Abdelkader
- Bernard Blancan - Sergeant Roger Martinez
- Mathieu Simonet - Caporal Leroux
- Assaad Bouab - Larbi
- Mélanie Laurent - Margueritte village Vosges
- Benoît Giros - Captain Durieux
- Thibault de Montalembert - Captain Martin
- Aurélie Eltvedt - Irène
- Dioucounda Koma - Touré
- Philippe Beglia - Rambert
- Antoine Chappey - The colonel
- Kalen Bushe - Second colonel
- Thomas Langmann - The journalist
- Julie de Bona
Modern relevance
While each has his own motives, these native Africans have enlisted to fight for a France they have never seen. In the words of Le Chant des Africains the four actors sing within the film, "we come from the colonies to save the motherland, we come from afar to die, we are the men of Africa." The film shows a complex depiction of their treatment in an army organisation prejudiced in favour of the European French.[3]
The discrimination by the French authorities against these soldiers continued as successive French governments froze the war pensions of these indigenous veterans when their countries became independent. The closing credits of the film state that, despite the ruling that war pensions should be paid in full, successive French administrations since 2002 had not done so. It was only after the film's release that the government policy was changed to bring foreign combatant pensions into line with what French veterans are paid.[6] But, as of 2010, no war pension in arrears (almost 40 years) have been considered.
In 2009, the BBC published documentary evidence that showed black colonial soldiers - who together with North African troops made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the units that led the Allied advance to liberate Paris in 1944. General Charles de Gaulle made it clear that he wanted Free French troops to enter the French capital first. In response Allied Command therefore insisted that all black soldiers should be replaced by European and North African ones from other French units.[7]
As historian
Reception
Critical response
Days of Glory has an approval rating of 83% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 86 reviews, and an average rating of 7.23/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Days of Glory is a powerful historical epic that pays homage to a valiant group of soldiers whose sacrifices have largely been forgotten".[9] It also has a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]
Awards
- Prix d'interprétation masculine at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[4]
- The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to The Lives of Others.
See also
- Army of Africa (Armée d’Afrique)
- 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (France)
References
- ^ a b Days of Glory at Box Office Mojo
- ^ "Indignes (Days of Glory) (2006)- JPBox-Office".
- ^ a b 'Days of Glory' MOVIE REVIEW - Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan, December 6, 2006, retrieved 2007-03-30
- ^ a b "Festival de Cannes: Days of Glory". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
- ^ Days of Glory (2006) Channel 4 Film review, retrieved 2007-03-30
- ^ The Independent Lichfield, John (2006-09-26). "Film moves Chirac to back down over war pensions". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- ^ "BBC NEWS - Europe - Paris liberation made 'whites only'". 6 April 2009.
- ^ Julian Jackson, BBC Radio Three, The Other Empire episode 3/5, first broadcast 14 September 2011
- ^ "Days of Glory (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Days of Glory". Metacritic.