Language : French / Arabic
Director : Rachid Bouchareb
‘Indigenes’ (French for natives) is the true story of a group of World War II soldiers who fought to prevent a small city, Alsace, being captured by the Germans. The group involved people from Algeria, Morocco and Senegal. Unlike the French, the North African soldiers are not given basic necessities. They are not sent back home even if injured like a French soldier would be. In a dramatic scene one of them takes a crate of tomatoes and stomps on it so no one gets to eat tomatoes that they themselves are denied. This scene is apparently taken from a true incident from the US war in Vietnam. The film follows the story of four soldiers and a general and exposes the second citizen treatment meted out to North African / Arab soldiers. The war sequences are brilliantly shot and the end battle in Alsace is harrowingly original. The director ends the film highlighting the fact that these soldiers who fought right alongside the French soldiers were denied their rightful compensation, and respect, due to a martyr. This film helped me set context to the ‘Battle of Algiers’. Much more realistic and powerful than a ‘Saving Private Ryan’ which this film is sadly being compared to.
You could draw a similar parallel from India too. Many contributions from the North East and the Gorkha Brigade have gone unsung.
I was lucky to meet and interact with Oliver Lorelle, Screenwriter of this film who narrated the ‘Tomato’ trivia.
Also watched Bala’s ‘Naan Kadavul’. Worth a watch. Kamalhasan’s ‘Maruthanayagam’ 8 minute trailer sure looked impressive but looks like that is all you will get to see. Aki kaurismaki’s ‘A man without a past’ is simply hilarious. Also revisited ‘Les Mistons / The mischief makers’ by Francois Truffaut. Attaching this must-watch film as two videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFbyKTAFeL0
Watched another superb short film (approx 10 minutes) ‘The Lunch Date’:
thanks to the Screenwriting Workshop in Chennai. My long absence was cos’ I was learning to write. Hope the above links more than make up for it.
Useless trivia : French premier Jacques Chirac saw ‘Indigenes’ and decided to release pensions to all North African soldiers who contributed in the World War II. A case of a film working for change, in this case change in Government policy, and giving justice and respect due to war veterans, even if many decades later.
For the record, the film was nominated for the Oscars under the Best Foreign Film Category but lost out to ‘The lives of others’, and also won a Best Actor Award at Cannes, 2006.
Leave a Reply