DAYS OF GLORY DVD-Review (INDIGÈNES)

Translating is an artform in itself, and lord knows how many errors I make in these reviews as English is not my native language. However, when titles are translated all bets are off apparently. For whoever thought up the inane "Days of Glory" to represent the French movie "Indigènes" ought to be sh... severely punished!
Then again, if it nets you an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Picture, who am I to criticize?

"Indigènes" tells the story of a group of French soldiers during the second world war. They fight for the liberation of France, at that point occupied by Nazi Germany, and the film follows a very basic schematic.
It could almost be called "Generic War Movie" because of this. You get introduced to some soldiers, they survive a couple of battles together and share some free time until you can tell them apart, and then you get the suicide mission at the end which decimates them. Even the visit to a war memorial is not missing.

So far, so "Battle Cry".

What sets this movie apart from countless others is that these soldiers are all from countries that were occupied themselves, only this time by France which controlled a lot of North Africa.
These guys are among the 130.000 so-called "indigenous soldiers" (now THERE is a title) who were coerced to fight with the French in Europe against the Germans, and this movie focuses on the utter lack of respect these people had to endure from the French, even when they were fighting alongside of them.

You get shown a lot of really rotten attitude: French soldiers get occasional leave, indigenous soldiers don't. French soldiers get promoted, indigenous soldiers don't. French soldiers get the credit for wins, indigenous soldiers don't. It would be harrowing but for some small wins these guys manage to score throughout the movie, but the fact that they have to fight for things like getting the same amount of food as the French soldiers is of course ridiculous to the core.

Now this is a movie with a very specific agenda: its makers intended to shame the French government into paying the war pensions of 80.000 surviving indigenous soldiers. These peoples' pensions were frozen in 1959 until the judges decided in 2002 this was done illegitimately and told the French government to pay up full pensions, same as the French soldiers had. However, the government kept procrastinating and sabotaging these proceedings so until this movie came out nothing had actually been paid yet. This has since changed although you can only speculate how much this movie had to do with it. But this agenda explains some oddities in the narrative.

I know several people who are quite close to the Algerian-French conflict. My wife used to study in France and the university in Paris has a secluded (you might even say SEGREGATED) group of Algerian students and professors who are very angry indeed at the way France has treated them in the last sixty years. Note that when Algeria became independent all French living there were quickly evacuated to avoid retribution from the Algerian fanatics, of which there were a large number because the war for independence had been particularly bloody on both sides. However, the Algerian-born with French passports but Arab backgrounds were left to rot. Some of these were decorated world war II veterans and they were subsequently slaughtered for being too French. This is probably the most scandalous part of this whole story, but it doesn't get mentioned in this movie because, well, it wouldn't help getting the surviving veterans their well-deserved pensions. Baby-steps are necessary here, as Algerian-French tensions in France are currently fast on the rise.

Also, I mentioned to a French colleague I would be writing a review for this movie and she became livid. She was very offended by the fact that this was basically a star "vanity" vehicle for several well-known French actors, first and foremost Jamel Debouzze who also co-produced this movie. Debouzze is a well known actor and comedian (he is also the simpleton who helps the baker in "Amelie" and the lead in Besson's "Angel-A"), but he apparently speaks Arab with a very strong French accent which doesn't help convince. Also the humility in the character he plays angers a lot of people, as it portrays Arabs as the same sort of 'noble savages' that we often see in movies of this ilk ("Dances with Wolves" got the same criticism from some native Americans who felt the film condescended them and described them as a lot of tree-hugging sissies to be pitied).

Outside of France nobody will probably notice any of this though. There were North-Africans fighting with the French during the second world war? Gee, never knew that. This movie was made to preach to the UN-converted, and as such it will be definitely an eye-opener for a lot of people. I had no issues with the stereotyping but that may have to do with my personal distance to this subject. It certainly depends which 'glasses' you're deciding to wear when you go see it.

All of which brings me back to the movie (PHEW!!).

It looks good. Very good. Battles look realistic but aren't too bloody and the camerawork is refreshingly without shake. A charge up a hill somewhere in Italy looks fantastic and epic. I liked the fact that I could work out the layout of a village and have an idea where everyone was, as that really makes the fighting a lot more intense. The bits between battles always can be boring but in this case I wasn't bored. Technically this is a striking movie.

The acting by the four leads seems good enough for me, with standouts being Samy Nacery (he of "Taxi" fame) as a Berber rogue and Roschdy Zem as the sniper who sees his relationship with a French woman actively sabotaged by the French army. I already mentioned Jamel Debouzze and the truth is, if he irritates you with his childlike naivety elsewhere you're not going to have any fun here. Sami Bouajila rounds off the main group and he's good as the intelligent and dignified corporal who keeps getting forgotten for promotion.
This cast together got the Golden Palm in Cannes for their acting, but like "Fahrenheit 9/11" I can't say what value can be given to an award for a movie with such a politically charged subject. I suspect ulterior motives, but like I said, some of the actors I found to be very good.

Concluding:
As a war movie "Days of Glory", pardon "Indigènes", is competent although not extraordinary. But if you like war movies you'd be crazy not to watch it. How you feel about the political subtext is up to you, but for me as a non-involvee it didn't look too exaggerated or over the top.

On to the DVD:

The DVD I watched was the Singapore one from Comstar, region 3 encoded.
Audio and video for this was very good, although the Dolby 5.1 didn't really bother the neighbors as much as you'd expect from a war movie. The image looked free from any obvious blemishes and treated both sunny and dreary landscapes with proper detail and contrast. The menu's are pleasing and the subtitles (English only) excellent.

However, there are no extras at all (not even a trailer). Which is surprising considering what you could tell about this subject, or the impact this movie made in France. A damn shame to be honest. But if you just want to see the film, this is a decent and cheap version, months ahead of Western English-friendly discs.

You can buy it here at moviexclusive:

Sun-Yi Park's positive review:
Propagandin's also positive review:
The trailer: