Days of Glory (Indigènes)

In 1944, the French government recruited more than a hundred thousand Algerian men—almost all Muslims—to defend France against the Nazi onslaught. Of course, most of these unfortunates had never set foot in France. Unlike Clint Eastwood’s uninsightful Letters From Iwo Jima, Days of Glory, written and directed by a Frenchman of Algerian origin, is already being praised for its brutal realism and for the sympathy with which it portrays its virtually unknown subjects. It’s virtually a lock for a best foreign film Oscar, and in a better world it would be one for best picture, playing on screens across the country.