INDIGENES/DAYS OF GLORY (2006, Algeria/France, 122 min.), directed by Rachid Bouchareb; screenplay by Rachid Bouchareb; cinematography by Patrick Blossier; music by Armand Amar and Cheb Khaled; edited by Yannick Kergoat; with Jamel Debbouze (Said Otmari), Sami Bouajila (Cpl. Abdelkader), Sami Naceri (Yassir), Roschdy Zem (Messaoud Souni), Bernard Blancan (Sergeant Roger Martinez), Assaad Bouab (Larbi), Aurélie Eltved (Irène). In Arabic and French with English subtitles.

Please jot down answers to the following questions and answer three in detail. One of the three longer answers should be to the final question.

1. The original French title means “Natives.” (As it is in English it’s now a somewhat pejorative term in French.) The American distributors chose to replace it with “Days of Glory.” What do you think about the change? What’s good and not so good about it?

2. The film opens with the men being recruited into the French army. What do you notice about this scene? What are some of the reasons for the men signing up?

3. This is, of course, a war film. Think of the typical elements of the genre: character types, ritual events, conflicts, setting, themes. What are some of the typical elements that you see in this film?

4. This is very much an ensemble film. (In fact, the four lead actors won a collective prize for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival last year.) Still, the central figure is probably Abdelkader, the man who becomes a corporal. Discuss him. What motivates him? What does he come to learn over the course of the film?

5. Now discuss the other lead Algerians: Said, Yassir (the man with the machine gun), and Messaoud (the big man with the tatoo). Do they develop as well?

6. Now discuss Sgt. Martinez. He is what the French (somewhat pejoratively) called a “pied noir,” a Frenchman brought up in one of the colonies. What motivates him? How do you feel about him?

7. Discuss the battle scenes. Do you find that they give you a subjective feeling of war? What is the “point-of-view” like? That is, are you seeing events from the perspective of the soldiers, from a more distant perspective, or both? Give some examples.

8. Discuss the love relationship between Irène and Messaoud. How does it function in the film?

9. Discuss the final battle scene in the Alsatian village. Do you find it effective?

10. With its traditional structure of clear demarcations according to rank, the war film often deals with issues of class and race, often serving as an intense microcosm for society as a whole. Give some examples of that phenomenon here.

11. What do you think of the film’s ending, set many years later? What do we learn from it? Does it seem unnecessarily tacked on? Would it be better left off?

12. What are some of the things that you learned from this film, about history, culture, and the practices of colonialism?

13. What are some of the ways in which the film speaks to us today?

14. Compare/Contrast the five reviews on the website. What is the main argument of each? Which do you prefer, and why?

RETURN to ENG197 Page.