Day of the Goum.

This is coolbert:

As you might expect, this one caught my eye and interest right away.

From Forbes Magazine:

"Mixed Media reviews"

"Days of Glory", a movie on DVD, is reviewed.

"From the "Longest Day" to "Saving Private Ryan", movies have paid rich and fairly thorough homage to World War II; still, the French combat drama "Days of Glory", has a new story to tell. In 1943, 130,000 infantry troops [these were Berbers from the High Atlas - - goum] from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia enlisted under the tricolor to help France eject the occupying German. Director Rachid Bouchareb (a Frenchman of Algerian descent depicts one such battalion as they charge German positions from Italy all the way to Alsace. These men show the patriotic nerve of the native-born, but to their French commanders, they're cannon fodder, indigenes [indigenous/"natives"] (a slur, and also the movies's more pointed French title) who don't deserve the privileges - - promotions, timely leave, fresh rations - - of "true" citizens. "Days of Glory" leans on familiar war-flick tropes: an exacting sergeant, band-of-brothers camaraderie, a thwarted romance with a village girl. But the natural, deeply felt performances of the four leads, all of North Africa descent and collective winners for best male performance at Cannes last year, give the movie its humanity and lend force to its quiet outrage . . . It's as exquisitely filmed and gripping a depiction of selfless valor as any put to film."

"trope - - noun - - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense"

Read my prior blog posts about the goum here and here.

I wonder, any depictions of the mass rape and murder perpertrated by the goum in Italy and Germany both?? Probably NOT!

Well, then I have not seen in any movies depictions of the fire bombing of Hamburg or Dresden for that matter either.

Make no mistake about it, however, the goum WERE hard, determined, skilled fighters of excellent quality. Gave a good account of themselves on the BATTLEFIELD. They DO merit recognition!

This movie sounds like it would be worthwhile seeing. I wonder if translated or in subtitles? At the IMDB web site, I see the goum are shown wearing American style World War Two helmets. This is wrong? They wore the British style helmet?

[the goum were renowned for carrying and wearing a melange' of equipment and uniforms, the French Army so ill-equipped them for combat. Whatever they could scrounge of capture from the Germans or Italians would do!!]

coolbert.