Unusual war film

Action slowly builds up in Rachid Bouchareb’s Days of Glory, writes Ervell E. Menezes

THAT the French are racists, especially in respect to their`A0black African colonialists, is evident in the metro or in the streets. And targeting the Algerians for special discrimination is no secret.

In Days of Glory French director Rachid Bouchareb picks on a slice of history where four Algerian soldiers, fighting for a country they have never seen and for whom they are willing to sacrifice their lives, are subjected to utter humiliation by their own countrymen.

The time is World War II, the place German-occupied France and nearby Italy where battles were fought in Provence and the Vorges. The four men are Said (Jamel Debbouze), Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), Messaound (Roschdy Zem) and`A0Yassir (Samy Naceri), all Algerians from the lower crusts of society, simple, illiterate but imbued with that Rupert Brooke like patriotism. Pitted against them is half-Arab Sergeant Martinez (Bernard Blancan), a sort of sadist caught between his loathing for Africans (read Algerians) and his devotion to his troops.

Tracing their familiarisation with their superiors, these Algerians are simple, conservative and socially backward and it is no easy task assimilating with the others. But director Bourchareb lunches this war on an epic scale. The seasons change but the picture is familiar. Marching in a sort of wasteland day upon day with niggling issues cropping up. No tomatoes for the Africans, no leave for them but they resent it and put up a fight yet the overall cause is not lost. That "if I should die think only this of me" is in keeping with those distant World War II era.

Mixing with civilians shows a distinct cultural barrier but the women are friendly and Yassir even falls in love with one of them. The others also fraternize with Said seeming to control his romantic desires. They are a study in contrast and the screenplay by Bouchareb and Olivier Morelle covers much ground. It is not like any war film with action scenes dominating. Slowly, action builds up and the laconic pace is almost palpable. There are mines and some minor skirmishes but it is the Nazis they will have to combat and the momentum gathers. Yet, it is only in the last quarter that this happens and with what scintillating effect. Close-ups of hand-to-hand combat brilliantly shot by Patrick Blossier gives the film a thudding impact.

"What next," is always on the viewer’s mind. Then inevitably, history unfolds with devastating action and our four heroes meet the fate in store but manfully as the denouement eventually comes, not expectedly but neatly tying up the lose ends and leaving this episode neatly sealed.

That man should look down upon his fellowmen seems endemic and that’s the basic theme of Bouchareb’s Days of Glory. Not surprisingly, it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2006. It is an unusual war film but be ready for its laconic style that will eventually haunt you.

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