Indigenes 2006

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Few [war movies] are as moving as Days, but even so, this film doesn't romanticize. It's hard, clear, full of empathy for its characters and lucid in its insight into their plight. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: A stupendous work. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Rachid Bouchareb's stirring war movie does for the North Africans what Ousmane Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow's Camp Thiaroye did for the Senegalese: it acknowledges the important role they played fighting alongside the French in World War II. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A splendid war movie. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: I've never seen a picture quite like Days of Glory, which not only illuminates a forgotten patch of history, but also broadens and enriches the idea of what it means to be both a patriot, in the best sense of the word, and a citizen of the world. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Rarely does a movie's title prove as bitterly ironic as Days of Glory. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The deluge of World War II movies presents a challenge to Days of Glory, one it can only partially overcome. Very little about it is new. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Days of Glory may lack a certain complexity, but then courage under fire from all sides -- be it the enemy's weapons or your own country's disgusting bigotry -- is a pretty straightforward proposition. The plain facts are more than enough. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: [Days of Glory's] grim, cynical portrayal of young men considered worthy enough to die for a foreign country, yet unworthy of being treated as equals, proves bluntly powerful. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: The movie is more about what happens between the battles than during them. It's the plight of the men, fighting for an army that considers them second-class citizens, that raises Days of Glory above your average war movie. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Rachid Bouchareb's Days of Glory, is a movingly acted, terrifically old-fashioned World War II picture rethought as a post-colonial rebuke. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: ... a film that is feelingly made and steeped in the strongest emotions. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The First French Army, composed mostly of 130,000 North Africans, were referred to contemptuously by the French as indigenes -- natives. Their bravery in wartime has never, until now, been adequately described in a movie. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: A solidly-constructed window onto an era and a culture clash many Americans never knew existed. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The story Bouchareb tells is something no classic has tackled before -- that of patriots fighting for a homeland that didn't treat them with egalite. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: Instead of guys named Danny and Polack and Sol and Brooklyn, you've got guys named Said and Yassir and Messaoud and Abdelkader. But it's the same deal. Prick them, do they not bleed? Blow them up, do their limbs not scatter and their guts not spill? Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It's to the credit of the actors, and Algerian-born director Rachid Bouchareb, that we become emotionally involved with the soldiers and the injustices they are forced to endure. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Days of Glory is as moving as it is ingenuous. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Just when you think you've viewed World War II from every conceivable angle, a picture like Days of Glory comes along and expands your range of vision with a stirring sense of urgency. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Bouchareb nobly honors men whose sacrifices have largely gone unnoticed. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: In recounting this conflicted tale, director Rachid Bouchareb displays some valour of his own, resisting what must have been a strong temptation to deal in aggrieved agitprop, and instead confining his attentions to a small group of indigenous soldiers. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: [Rachid] Bouchareb's movie combines convention with insight in a manner that may prevent it from being a great film but probably helped clinch it as a productive one. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: Bouchareb shows a real talent for action sequences. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: Big budgeted ($16 million) multi-national production downplays its epic scale with a nicely-tuned ensemble that concentrates on personalities rather than battles, highlighting the contribution these men made despite treatment as second-class soldiers. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: It could be a better movie. But it certainly convinces you of the nobility of the souls of the men whose boots were on the ground and whose bodies went into that same ground. Read more