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''Days of Glory'' (french: Indigènes, ; ar, بلديون) is a 2006 French film directed by
Rachid Bouchareb Rachid Bouchareb (born 1 September 1953) is a French film director and producer. His films are based on the complex history of France and its relationship with its former colony, Algeria. His films also examine racial discrimination and conflic ...
. The cast includes Sami Bouajila, Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem,
Mélanie Laurent Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress, filmmaker, and singer. The recipient of two César Awards and a Lumières Award, she is an accomplished actress in the French film industry. Globally, she is best known for her rol ...
and
Bernard Blancan Bernard Blancan (born 9 September 1958) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 85 films and television shows since 1989. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in '' Days of Glory'' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Ca ...
. The film deals with the contribution of North African soldiers to the
Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and, controversially, with the discrimination against them. The film's release contributed to a partial recognition of the pension rights of soldiers from former French possessions by the French government.'Days of Glory' MOVIE REVIEW - Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan, December 6, 2006, retrieved 2007-03-30
Cast members Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila and Bernard Blancan all won the ''
Prix d'interprétation masculine The Best Actor Award (french: Prix d'interprétation masculine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official co ...
'' at the
2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official selection Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over t ...
for their performances, and the film won the
François Chalais Prize The François Chalais Prize ( French: ''Prix François Chalais'') is awarded at two main events, the Cannes Film Festival (since 1997) and the Young Reporters' Awards (since 1999). It was created to pay tribute to French journalist and film histor ...
. It was also nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
.


Plot

In
French North Africa French North Africa (french: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is the term often applied to the territories controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. I ...
in 1943 large numbers of men from France's overseas possessions have been recruited into the French First Army of the
Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
to fight alongside the other
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
against
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and liberate France from occupation. The army consists of two main elements: ''
pieds-noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...
'', that is people of mostly European descent, and ''indigènes'', those of mostly African descent. The "indigènes" in turn consist of three main groups: Algerians,
Moroccans Moroccans (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who are of Moroccan nationality, sh ...
(known as '' goumiers)'', and troops from
Sub-Sahara Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African c ...
. Saïd, an impoverished
goat herder A goatherd or goatherder is a person who herds goats as a vocational activity. It is similar to a shepherd who herds sheep. Goatherds are most commonly found in regions where goat populations are significant; for instance, in Africa and South ...
, 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
lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
American uniforms American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
meet Sergeant Martinez, a battle-hardened ''pied-noir'', who trains them before leading them on their first engagement against the Germans in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Their mission is to capture a heavily-defended mountain, but it soon becomes clear that their French commanding officer is using them as cannon fodder to identify
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...
targets. The colonial troops eventually succeed, at the cost of high casualties. When asked by a French war correspondent about his thoughts on the losses, the French colonel replies, "today was a great victory for the Free French Forces". The troops of the 7th RTA next embark for
Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence ( Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord ...
, to liberate the south of France.Days of Glory (2006) Channel 4 Film review
retrieved 2007-03-30
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 Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, 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 Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...
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
military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...
bring Messaoud to a temporary
stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived f ...
where Abdelkader is also being held. Messaoud says he was arrested for trying to go back to Marseille and find Irène. Abdelkader is brought before the French colonel who tells him that he needs him to go on a special mission: to take ammunition to American troops fighting in the Lorraine Campaign and also be the first French troops to liberate
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. The French officer promises that Abdelkader and the other colonial soldiers will get the rewards and recognition that success in this operation will bring. Later, the white company captain tells the corporal that the colonel will keep his word. 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 troops 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 French 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 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 Bernard Blancan (born 9 September 1958) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 85 films and television shows since 1989. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in '' Days of Glory'' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Ca ...
- Sergeant Roger Martinez * Mathieu Simonet - Caporal Leroux * Assaad Bouab - Larbi *
Mélanie Laurent Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress, filmmaker, and singer. The recipient of two César Awards and a Lumières Award, she is an accomplished actress in the French film industry. Globally, she is best known for her rol ...
- Margueritte village Vosges * Benoît Giros - Captain Durieux *
Thibault de Montalembert Thibault Charles Marie Septime de Montalembert (born 10 February 1962) is a French theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the television series '' The Tunnel'' (2013–2018) and ''Call My Agent!'' (2015– ...
- Captain Martin * Aurélie Eltvedt - Irène * Dioucounda Koma - Touré * Philippe Beglia - Rambert *
Antoine Chappey Antoine Chappey (born 1960) is a French actor. He has appeared in over 80 films and television shows since 1989. He starred in the film ''Nelly'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Selected fi ...
- 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 "Le Chant des Africains" (''The Song of the Africans'') is the unofficial anthem of the Pied-noir community in France and its former colonies in Africa. History World War I Originally written in 1914 by a Sergeant-Major Bendifallah and companym ...
'' 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. 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 pension War pensions are almost certainly the most ancient type of social security. Plutarch's Life of Solon mentions a law which provides that those who are maimed in war shall be maintained at the public charge. Halsbury's Laws of England traced their his ...
s 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.
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
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 Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...
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. As historian Julian Jackson elaborated, "Once Vichyite Algeria had been conquered by the Allies, de Gaulle was finally allowed to go there, in May 1943. Now
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
replaced London and
Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CL ...
as the capital of the Free French. Even more important was the fact that Algeria contained an important reservoir of North African troops. At the end of 1942 de Gaulle's total forces never numbered more than 50,000, but now, in 1943, thanks to Algeria, he had an army of about half a million men. This multi-racial army was first thrown into battle in Italy in 1943 - it fought at the
Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...
- then landed with Americans in southern France in August 1944... the 2nd Armored Division of Leclerc was sent over to... northern France, - in the words of one senior American general it was, 'the only French division which could be made 100% white'... Even if it was not at de Gaulle's instigation, it doesn't seem he particularly objected to this white-washing of the last stages of the Free French epic... The French were quick to forget that it was thanks to their colonial soldiers that they had any claim to have re-entered the war in 1944 as a great power."


Reception


Critical response

''Days of Glory'' has an approval rating of 83% on
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, 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". It also has a score of 82 out of 100 on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


Awards

* Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila and
Bernard Blancan Bernard Blancan (born 9 September 1958) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 85 films and television shows since 1989. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in '' Days of Glory'' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Ca ...
won the ''
Prix d'interprétation masculine The Best Actor Award (french: Prix d'interprétation masculine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official co ...
'' at the
2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official selection Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over t ...
. *The film was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
, but lost to ''
The Lives of Others ''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of East Berli ...
''.


See also

* 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (France) * Goumier *
Marocchinate Marocchinate (; ) is a term applied to the mass rape and killings committed during World War II after the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. These were committed mainly by the Moroccan Goumiers, colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps ...
* Tirailleur


References


External links

*
Official ''Days of Glory'' website (English)More4 News report on the impact of ''Days of Glory''
{{Algerian submission for Academy Awards Belgian drama films 2000s war drama films French war drama films Moroccan drama films 2006 films 2000s Arabic-language films Films set in Algeria Films set in France Films set in Italy Algerian drama films 2000s French-language films Abbey of Monte Cassino Films about race and ethnicity Films about racism Operation Dragoon Italian Campaign of World War II films Western Front of World War II films World War II films based on actual events Films directed by Rachid Bouchareb Films set in the French colonial empire Battle of Monte Cassino Films set in 1943 Films set in 1944 2006 drama films 2006 multilingual films Algerian multilingual films Belgian multilingual films French multilingual films Moroccan multilingual films 2000s French films Films about immigration to France