Days of Glory (Indigenes) -- WWII N Africa (1 Viewer)

[Larry Allen]

I found this to be a really GOOD WWII flick. Below is a well written description of the movie.
The movie has the flavor of "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan" as a close knit group, not only fighting the Nazis, but their own position within the French Army and just try to make it thru the war and go home. I didn't know that this issue of social standing was a problem in the French Army in WWII. -- Larry


The movie takes the viewer on a trip back to the second world war, showing how parts of the Arabic population fought with the French colonists for their freedom, against Nazi Germany trying to occupy Africa. As the movie evolves, other aspects than the fight for freedom and the brutality of war emerges. The viewer is reminded that the the social identity of the white bourgeoisie class and the stereotypes that follows not emerged with the current world of terrorism. Questions of power, humanity, religion, racism, love and honour follows the viewer through this exciting, emotional and realistic movie. Along with the plot and acting in this piece of work, the critical viewer should be satisfied.

 

[gk5717]

I agree, an excellent WW 2 movie.
Gary

 

[larso]

Yes, it is pretty good. Here is a review I wrote for it:

This is a well made war film about the experiences of Algerian volunteers for France's cause in WW2. The combat scenes are very good! There are lots of extras and the battles are well done - they do not look cheap. Or sanitized, some parts are quite graphic indeed (rigor mortis shown for instance). The opening fight for an Italian mountain is quite eye opening in terms of the difficulties in attacking entrenched positions on a steep, rocky mountainside. There aren't many places to hide! The Germans (regular infantry only as far as I could tell) pound away with mortars and MGs and to my eye looked the business. I'm no expert but they looked pretty authentic and certainly, given the focus is on the Algerians, were presented as professional and deadly. Certainly, they clearly inflict many casualties. Following Italy, the unit (7th Algerian) is sent to France, is on the line in the Vosges, with the final battle in Alsace.

There are several key themes. A central one is the patriotism of so many of the North African soldiers. They refer to France as the mother country. They sing French songs and they take enormous pride in their role as liberators. This is despite a lot of discrimination. The French army is shown as being generally indifferent to them, constantly favouring French troops in terms of leave and promotions. There is also lots of petty discrimination, like ignoring mail needs and this is shown as being ever so destructive in its own right. Thus it was enthralling to see the reception the men got from local French civilians, who thanked them so wholeheartedly. I really enjoyed these scenes and it made some of the racism just that more painful. There are also a few scenes which deal with their religion.

The final battle, in an Alsace village, is very powerful indeed. The combat scenes have a very authentic look to them - particularly the moment of being shot, if that makes any sense? No Hollywood throwing arms in the air, men drop like stones, it is chilling stuff. Given that the viewer now knows the characters, there are some wrenching scenes. I felt this fight was extremely well done. It is one of the most effective 'house to house' combat depictions I have ever seen.

The film is in French, with English subtitles. I had no problem with this and I strongly recommend it as an insight into a little known aspect of the war but in particular for its compelling depictions of combat

 

[Poppo]

I found this to be a really GOOD WWII flick. Below is a well written description of the movie.
The movie has the flavor of "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan" as a close knit group, not only fighting the Nazis, but their own position within the French Army and just try to make it thru the war and go home. I didn't know that this issue of social standing was a problem in the French Army in WWII. -- Larry


The movie takes the viewer on a trip back to the second world war, showing how parts of the Arabic population fought with the French colonists for their freedom, against Nazi Germany trying to occupy Africa. As the movie evolves, other aspects than the fight for freedom and the brutality of war emerges. The viewer is reminded that the the social identity of the white bourgeoisie class and the stereotypes that follows not emerged with the current world of terrorism. Questions of power, humanity, religion, racism, love and honour follows the viewer through this exciting, emotional and realistic movie. Along with the plot and acting in this piece of work, the critical viewer should be satisfied.

This film can be enjoyable as a tale, but this is also another " politically correct" movie: the real aim of the movie is to let feel the arabic french population of France as a real part of the french society, the aim is a message against "racism", but nothing has to do with history.

Those colonial troops who look so human and sensible in the film, behaved in a much less sensible way after the allies' winning of the" battle of Montecassino": the french officers let (to thank them for the fightings) the moroccan french soldiers raping, killing and stealing the local italian civil populations during 3 days. They even raped sometimes to death priests and children....
This thing was so big and painful in italy that films like " la ciociara" with Sofia Loren were made, and those acts remembered as" marocchinerie".