Great movie
I would give this movie a rating of 6 stars if I could. Based on true story with great acting and drama. Director Debbouze did it again.

French Colonial Troops from North Africa are due their pensions
Dear Sir or Madam:
This film convinces me that all surviving Islamic Veterans of French Colonies that served bravely and ably in the French 1st Army and French XIX Corps in the nightmarish and terrifying Battles; in the mountains and plains of Italy, France and Germany, during World War II; should be paid their full pensions, with interest, since 1959, when the pensions were taken away. The World War II Veterans of the French Colonies of France; especially Algeria, Morroco and Tunisia(the Legendary Tirailleurs and others) should have their military pensions fully reinstated by NATO down to the second generation if these French Colonial Soldiers have passed away or their children.
Perhaps, only then, can we be righteous and attain peace with are aging Muslim Comrades in Arms from World War II who live in Northwest Africa and France. Sincerely, Daniel P. Kneeland

Below my Expectations
I had big expectations for this movie according to the reviews received. It was not a very powerful drama and as a war movie it was light in the action, I consider it slow moving and very talky. As stating a case for returning the retirement benefits for the North African soldiers that fought for France in World War II that were suspended after the Independence of Morocco and Algiers from France it makes a point.

It did not shock me the mistreatment and contempt the French authorities provided the North African soldiers as they were considered second class citizens of the colonies (the first class citizens were the French living in the colonies calles Pied Noir) and not even French nationals. The North African soldiers were fighting for their oppressors in reality. It is ironic that while Americans, Canadians, Brits, Poles and scores of people from different nationalities and continents were fighting for the freedom of France against Nazi Germany at the same time France was keeping a sizable number of their military keeping tha French colonies in North Africa and Asia in line. In this situation of double moral standards using people considered inferior as cannon fodder I believe was only expected. The North African volunteers or Indigenes were not fighting for freedom, equality or brotherhood and specially not for France, each had motivations other than love of country as we can attest in the movie most went to Europe for plunder and payment, as mercenary soldiers. It is well known fact that during the Italian campaign around Monte Cassino that by the way was won using French colonial troopers lead by General Juin where Brit, New Zealander, American, Pole and Indian troops had already failed the most hated soldiers by the Italian populace were the North African Goums because of their wide spread looting and raping. Knowing these facts I am not very well inclined to feel weepy for these men.

About the movie, the battle in Italy is well choreographed could have been more informative if we knew what battle we are talking about, is it the taking of the hills sorrounding the german positions at Monte Cassino ? It is only referred as Italy 1944. We see few germans a couple of machine gun nests and a mortar pit composing the obstacles the Indigenes have to surmount for their first victory, but was it an important victory, did it accomplish something in the full scope of the Italian campaign? Maybe if we knew this was a mile stone or something important was accomplished we would be more inclined to support the claims of the North Africans for their justs pensions and benefits from the French Goverment.

The battle in France is too talky, we are mostly presented with the injustices of white non coms being promoted ahead of the Ber Bers but we don't know if the Indigenes were really deserving of faster promotion, the French Sargeant Martinez and the Corporal are very good leaders of men as they are presented and certainly demonstrated better judgement and authority than the Indigene coprporal so this case is not well presented. We see an unconvincing romance between an Indigene soldier and a French lady and somehow we are led to believe that a one night stand is so significant in the life of the soldier called Mahmmoud that he is willing to desert his post and face the possibility of imprisonment and maybe death just to return to Marseilles and see her, I did not see enough chemistry or even emphaty between these characters to believe this. As for the authorities trying to keep the Senegalese and North African soldiers away from the population by denying them home leave or even the privilege of getting uncensored letters was probably to be expected as I already said these were considered only cannon fodder and a little better than lootists and thiefs. Yes, they were fighting for France but still were treated as dangerous foreigners. But we have to consider the position of the French authorities that dreamed with returning France to its former glory retining its prestige and of course its colonies it was not in their best interest to provide equality for their colonial nationals. Remember that many of these authorities have openly cooperated with the nazis during the occupation and the Vichy free government.

The last battle in Alsace was the main point and we can see at last courage and determination in the North African soldiers as they defend a position against a german attack with greater numbers and equipment than thay had even when they have their French officers killed and rendered unfit to fight. This is a nice small action a la Saving Private Ryan and probably saves the film from being boring and tedious.

I believe that France should repay its veterans no matter the ancestry for their contributions during the war and that the pensions should be returned, maybe this is the whole point of the movie but could have been presented in a more convincing fashion.

Long overdue.
An intense film that while has often been compared to Saving Private Ryan other than them both being war films has very little in common.

The film depicts Algerian soldiers who had volunteered to fight in the French army during world war 2. The film begins with a village elder in Algeria calling upon the men to fight for the 'motherland' France against German occupation. When enlisted, they are brought together with North African troops who had already been fighting in North Africa and were to be posted to France. They are put under the command of an Algerian born French officer, given the most basic of training and then sent to the front.

Their first battle is to take a hilltop heavily fortified by German forces. While suffering heavy casualties they manage to capture the position. Encouraged by their success and now with valuable military experience they are greeted as heroes in France. Still prejudice is never far away. The first most obvious example we are give is when on board a boat the men are receiving a meal however, the chef refuses to give a tomato to a black soldier resulting in a minor mutiny that is only quelled when their commanding officer assures them that all will receive the same rations.

The army unit moves to the mountains where they are commanded to hold positions in freezing conditions while white French troops are given leave, finally they are given leave only to return back to be given a mission to hold a small French village under near impossible conditions.

Much of the film is given to developing each character. One is an illiterate man from a village, incapable of making his own decisions and quickly falls under the leadership of his commanding officer. Another is a fairly well educated man who seeks promotion in the army and sees himself as a career officer. Then we have two brothers and a man who falls in love with a local girl and hopes that when the war ends, he may return to her and settle down in Marseilles. Finally, there is their commanding officer, who while born in Algeria sees himself as very much French with something of a colonial contempt for the Arabs while keeping a dark secret hidden.

While there is ample time for character development and throughout the film you do come to relate to the characters I found it interesting that the black African soldiers barely said a word (Other than complain about not getting a tomato) and played very much a background role. No doubt they were Senegalese troops due to their dress and there does exists a fair amount of racism towards black Africans by some Arabs so I would have been interested to see something of that examined in the film. I felt the simple "All us colonials together" A little far fetched.

That out of the main characters one it seems wishes to remain in France, another begins to feel increasingly that while Fighting for the freedom of France that should also extend to his own people I found quite realistic. I have spoken to many Africans who had fought during the second word war and many tell of how on returning from the war saw the freedom of their own nation just as important as the freedom of Britain or France for which they fought.

The fact that it has took so long to recognise the contribution of 'colonial' troops during the second world war both in the cinema and in history books may go some way to explain why some would see this film as 'politically correct' The fact that France frozen the pensions of these men who fought to free their country is a source of shame.

This is a touching film. One of the concluding scenes where after the Algerian troops having fought so bravely to defend the village the photographer takes pictures of white troops celebrating with local villages was an excellent way in showing how history has been whitewashed.

Well worth watching.

Over Hyped, Badly Executed
The hype over this movie is incredible, but the film fails far short of its potential, and falls into a depressing and predictable rut. Make no doubt, this movie does not hold a candle to Saving Private Ryan, which is sad, because there is a compelling story to be told. Spielburg could have breathed life into this mess and made it a masterpiece.

Days of Glory misses every opportunity to deal with the tragic reality of oppressive racism and systematic abuse of French colonial troops. The movie quickly takes on an element of politicaly correct, and predictable whining. It ignores potential for exploring difficult, complex subject matter in a real and poignant way: the white French are all cowardly whimps, the colonial troops are all heros, blah, blah blah. The reality, was somewhere in between; there were plenty of examples of white French officers who fought bravely alongside there colonial troops in 1940. Nor will you find the a hint of the efforts of French officers to try and save their troops from barbaric summary executions by the German army during the blitzkrieg.

Sadly, because the characters are so wooden, there is never a meaningful or thought provoking conversation between a European or a colonial soldier. Nor is there any attempt to put a human face on the average German soldier, most of whom where arguably victims of a the fanatical Nazi state. And the dialog between the Arabs isn't much better - very little character development takes place in Days of Glory. Compare this movie with the US Civil War masterpiece Glory and you get the picture of how first rate acting can set the screen on fire. Recall the look Denzel Washington gives before getting beaten for desertion - that is acting! The closest you get to that in Days of Glory is the tomato scene, which goes no where.

Another problem is the fantastic technical inaccuracies and poor effects in the movie. Compared to contemporary war movies (Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Black Hawk down, etc) this film clearly lacked an knowledgable military advisor. There is nothing remotely like passable sound effects, which is criminal, even on a tight budget. The combat scenes look like they came out of a B-rate 1950s black and white films. This is paticularly true of the final battle scene which is just silly - no attempt at recreating small unit tactics, just guys running around with guns and melodramatic carnage. A weak sound track completes the disapointment.

All and all, this is a beer and pretzles movie to pass a couple of hours, but if you think that the movie is going to grab you like Saving Private Ryan, forget it. You will not get much in the way of history or action either.