French trailer. Watch on DailyMotion.
A row has broken out in France about Days of Glory, a film about the African soldiers who fought for France in the Second World War.
Director Rachid Bouchareb surprised critics when he entered the film as an Algerian rather than a French production for this year’s Oscars.
The issue is sensitive because the film, (original title Indigènes - Natives), was hailed as a recognition of France’s debt towards the 325,000 Africans who helped to liberate the country in 1944.
The troops from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and black Africa had been largely airbrushed out of official French history. They were put back in the picture by Days of Glory, which was seen by 3.1 million people in France amid anguished debate and a sense of national repentance.
Le Figaro newspaper pointed out that more than 90 per cent of Indigenes’ €14 million budget came from France and asked with a mixture of indignation and irony whether Mr Bouchareb considered that Algeria was still a French colony. The surprise is all the greater because Days of Glory is down for the French cinema awards, Les Césars, as a French film.
