“Indigènes” or “Days of Glory” is a World War II film about North African soldiers recruited by the Allies to liberate France from German occupation, despite having never set foot on French soil.

The movie comes as a response to the French government freezing the pensions of the North African soldiers who liberated France and are the subject of this film 60 years ago.

The movie begins in North Africa, with hundreds of men marching down the streets, screaming to liberate France; among them is one of the lead characters, Saïd Otmari, played by Jamel Debbouze.

Debbouze delivers a convincing performance as Saïd, adding emotion and pride to his role.

The acting performances are where the movie soars; the four men who play North African soldiers are all exceptional but the performance that sold me on the movie was Bernard Blancan portraying the stern sergeant who leads the men through Italy and France.

Blancan is fun to watch as the experience officer trying to shape up the inexperienced men, and he steals the show in every scene he is in.

Another performance that shines in this film is Samy Naceri, who portrays another arab soldier named Yassir. Naceri, who has perhaps twenty lines in the whole film, proves that actors can have less screen time but still deliver an emotional performance.

The direction is another reason this movie transcends the language barrier and proves itself to be a solid all-around war movie. The battle scenes, while exciting, may not seem to be as shocking as “Saving Private Ryan” but prove in the climax of the movie that clever editing and solid camera work can create one of the best shoot-outs in recent film history.

The movie deals strongly with themes of equality and segregation, but the movie handles them exactly how they should be handled: respectfully. The film never uses segregation to beg for attention or pity; it instead presents the situation and characters and forces the audience to decide on their own.

“Indigènes” is a very good war movie and an excellent foreign film to be shown at the French Film Festival. However, it transcends just being a war movie and becomes a movie about the human spirit and its resolve. The heroes of the film had no obligation to liberate France, and even though they arrived ahead of the French in many cases, they never received credit.

My favorite thing about this film is that the French are the villains in their own movie. The Arabic main characters fight with honor and without complaint while the French characters take leaves and claim all the glory in the face of danger.

Overall, the movie is a top-notch, well-directed, wonderfully acted story of the human will. The beginning of the film can seem to drag a little, but all of this is made up for in the truly excellent climax.

World War II fans and history buffs should join French students for this masterpiece.