Days of fame

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Movie
German title Days of fame
Original title Indigenous
Country of production France , Belgium , Algeria , Morocco
original language French , Arabic
Publishing year 2006
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Rachid Bouchareb
script Rachid Bouchareb
Olivier Lorelle
production Jean Bréhat
music Armand Amar
Khaled
camera Patrick Blossier
cut Yannick Kergoat
occupation

Days of Fame (Original title: Indigènes ) is a war film by the director Rachid Bouchareb from 2006 . The alternative German title for the film is Days of Fame - The Forgotten Heroes of the Second World War .

action

The film is about the four Berbers Said, Yassir, Abdelkader and Messaoud who joined the 7th RTA ( 7th Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens = 7th Algerian Rifle Regiment) of the French army in 1943 to fight for a country they have never seen to have. Under the leadership of Sergent Martinez, a rough-and-tumble Frenchman from Algeria , they are fighting the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy against the German Wehrmacht , without having received proper military training. The Arab and black French are used as cannon fodder to eliminate artillery positions of the enemy. They later move into Marseille with the French army as part of Operation Dragoon , where Messaoud begins an forbidden relationship with a French woman. He wrote her letters regularly, but the French army did not forward them. When Messaoud later tries to return to his love, he is forbidden and suspended. The same happens to Abdelkader, whose protests against the humiliation of the indigenous people ( above all Algerians and Moroccans) within the French army did not please his superiors. When Said tells Sergeant Martinez that he also has an Arab mother, the latter threatens his death if he should reveal this closely guarded secret.

When the regimental commander, a colonel (equivalent to a German colonel ), then needs men to invade Alsace as a small commando on a daring mission , the four Berbers volunteer. They want to prove their patriotism and strength. Together with their sergent they set off. When defending a village, the troops are in distress against a numerically superior enemy and are wiped out. Only Abdelkader survived until reinforcements arrive. But nobody cares anymore that his comrades gave their lives for a foreign country and were the first French soldiers to invade Alsace. The French war correspondents take photos of white French soldiers depicting them as liberators of the village, even though they did not fight.

The film makes a leap in time of 60 years: the aged Abdelkader visits a French military cemetery in Alsace and prays at the graves of his three comrades. Then he goes back to his social housing, where he lives alone. The film ends with the fade-in that France frozen the soldiers' pensions of the colonial soldiers after the declarations of independence of the former colonies and has not yet paid them out.

reception

Days of Glory in France was a success with critics, while the number of visitors exceeded the million mark. The French government was concerned about the film material and, in response, adjusted the pensions for the veterans shown in the film, which were previously higher for white French soldiers.

Historical background

In 2009 the BBC published a documentary stating that blacks and North Africans made up 2/3 of the troops of " free France ". These were removed from the troops before the liberation of Paris in 1944 and replaced by white French. General Charles de Gaulle demanded that troops from "free France" arrive in Paris first. The Allied High Command then ordered that black soldiers be replaced by white soldiers.

Awards

Rachid Bouchareb was represented with his film in the competition of the 59th Cannes Film Festival in 2006 . Although Bouchareb had to admit defeat to Ken Loach ( The Wind That Shakes the Barley ) in the award of the Golden Palm , the actors Jamel Debbouze , Bernard Blancan , Samy Naceri , Roschdy Zem and Sami Bouajila were awarded the actor's prize. At the César Awards 2007 , France's national film award, Days of Fame led the field of favorites with nine nominations together with Guillaume Canets No Death Word and Pascale Ferrans Lady Chatterley , but was only given the award for the best original screenplay. At the 2007 Academy Awards , the film made it to the last five foreign films nominated as Algeria's official candidate, but it was left behind against the German candidate The Lives of Others . The film won the Lumières Prize for Best Screenplay .

Others

Actor Jamel Debbouze's right arm has been paralyzed since an accident in his youth. However, this handicap is completely ignored by the film character "Said" himself as well as by all other characters with whom Said comes into contact - for example, he carries a rifle slung around his neck, although he could not fire it.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Sotinel, Thomas: Les nominations des Césars . In: Le Monde, January 28, 2007, Culture, p. 24.
  2. ↑ cf. "Indigènes" and "Lady Chatterley" among César favorites , Agence France Presse , Paris, February 23, 2007.
  3. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984436.stm