Robert J. Maxwell The story of a handful of Berber tribesmen from Algeria who enlist in the French Army during World War II and slog their way through North Africa, Italy, France, and Alsace in order to rid the world of Nazi occupiers. There are several effective scenes of combat and the ending somewhat resembles that of "Saving Private Ryan". Man, they are a rag tag bunch too. They always look dirty, their uniforms tatty and irregular, and they always need a shave. Their equipment looks like it was bought in a dollar store. The men wear helmets that are variously British, American, and French.There is also a subtext. The North African troops, including their French leaders, are looked down upon by the native French troops. And, on top of that, the Berbers face prejudice because they are swarthy, sometimes illiterate, and speak French with an accent, their native language being Arabic.I'm not sure there's very much new in the story. We follow half a dozen men as they suffer deaths, failed loves, and internal conflicts. The strongest performance -- possibly because it's one of the most carefully written -- is that of Bernard Blancan as the French sergeant who heads the platoon. He looks like one of the villainous chumps one might find in a Laurel and Hardy short but his character is complex. He treats the Berber recruits with disdain and does everything possible to hide the fact that his mother was an Arab.The photography and location shooting are mostly pretty gloomy and there's little in the way of light-hearted humor. Everyone seems rather sad even the two pretty young French ladies, of whom we should have seen more. There's a touching scene in which a girl in Marseilles takes one of the men up to her room. She strips. He hesitates, his shirt half off. She asks what's wrong and he tells her that where he comes from men like him are not allowed to be with French girls.I understand the Algerian's nationalism but I'm not sure that what it led to after the war was such a marvelous improvement. However, it's all over now.

thethundersd The days of glory illustrate a part of the history during the World War 2, when the French resistance commanded by general De Gaulle gathered a new army to fight with the allies, this new army was called 'les indigènes', they were men recruited from the countries occupied by the French empire.The movie shows how they participate in the liberation of the French Republic from the Nazis, and how during the war they suffered from injustice inside the army, they were "under feeded, not well dressed and not well trained" comparing to the French soldiers, in spite of they struggled believing the day of liberty is close.The idea to tell the story of those called 'les indigènes' was great, but not well exposed, the scenario and the emotions were poor, the whole movie was about the North African soldiers (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), especially the Algerian ones, certainly because of the background of the director who is originally from Algeria.The good thing about the movie was the music which was very interesting and very expressive, and the performance of the actors, great combination between the French language and the Arabic language.It is a nice movie after all, because it shows a historical reality unknown by many persons.--http://theearthdiary.blogspot.com/

richard-leiper-1 Jamel was an unfortunate choice to play an active front line soldier, given his right arm injury which was obvious from the very start of the movie. Apart from that his performance is the most wooden performance of all the players in a plot that does not seem to take off into the action promised in the sleeve claims! The dialogue and especially the rhetoric of the colonel encouraging the men before they go into battle smacks more of a late forties Russian war film than something from the 21st century. As a vehicle to portray the injustices suffered by the French colonial troops it did manage to go a little along that way, it was especially touching to see the Berbers (Yassir and his mates)unused to the cold in the snow of the Vosges with only sandals on their feet.

Neil Turner The English title of this film is very much a misnomer. There is no glory - just heartbreak - in this story of natives of North Africa who were recruited by the French army to help liberate France during the Second World War. It is a grim tale of men who sacrificed their all in support of a nation that had colonized their homeland. Their goal was to prove that they were true citizens of France, but they were treated as second-class citizens throughout the war and after.The story follows the lives of four men from various backgrounds from an uneducated shepherd to an intellectual. They each volunteered to serve for different personal reasons, but were all torn asunder by the rampant prejudice of their races and religions.Indigènes is certainly an interesting and well-produced film, but I think it suffers a bit because the audience is not given much insight into the backgrounds of the four main characters. As a foreigner, I would have liked to know more about from whence they came. One of the ironies of these men is that they were as much strangers to each other as they were to the French soldiers, because they came from such diverse areas and backgrounds. There is little of that sitting around talking about home that gives insight into the former lives of soldiers that you usually see in films of this type of film. Because of the tribe-like nature of their native land, these soldiers have nothing in common except their contemptible treatment by the French soldiers and officers.What this film does offer is an insightful look at yet another injustice of history, and anything that brings to the fore an examination and evaluation of prejudice and its results is certainly worthwhile.