Ciné Club: Days of Glory / Indigènes

Days of Glory / Indigènes
Friday, 28 January 2011
5.30 p.m. & 7.30 p.m. 

2006-Col-130 min
Directed by: Rachid Bouchareb

A war film with a difference. A historical film that actually changed history. Rachid Bouchareb’s Indigènes begins in North Africa with the conscription of Maghreb men to fight with the Free French Forces against the Nazis. The narrative moves slowly north into Occupied Europe as the men fight side by side with the French comrades in arms only to face internal institutionalized racism. The film makes its point via depictions of the tremendous sacrifices of colonial soldiers that went unremarked in the subsequent re-telling of this chapter in recent French history. The film provoked a tremendous outcry upon its release since it drew attention to the fact that veterans from the (by now) former colonies no longer received indexed pensions from France. The national debate sparked by Indigènes led to an dramatic official change in policy for veterans from the former colonies proving that, at least in France, cinema about history can actually change history.