Summary
The strong cast won the ensemble acting award at Cannes. Sami Bouajila is an idealistic intellectual who believes in de Gaulle's promises of equality. Popular French comedian Jamel Debbouze plays a shy village boy who keeps his head down and hopes for a modest reward. Roschdy Zem is a marksman and loner who imagines marrying his French sweetheart and settling down in a small French town after the war. Their sergeant (Bernard Blancan), is a so-called "pied-noir" -- born in north Africa of European parentage -- and his position as a buffer between the French officers and the Algerian men turns out to have a very personal dimension.
The film's English title, Days of Glory, is half-earnest, half-ironic. A far better title is the French one -- Indigènes, or "natives." The racism depicted in the film is rarely expressed outright. It's systemic and insidious. The Algerian soldiers are not given leave like their French compatriots. They are still in desert sandals in the freeze of the French winter. Their letters to French girls are confiscated by the censors.See the full content of this document
Extract
History Rewritten, Again, in War Film
By Alison Gillmor
MANY movies claim to transform people's minds. This well-produced and affecting Second World War story, which brings to light the overlooked contribution of soldie...See the full content of this document
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