Days of Glory (2006)
When Days of Glory premiered at Cannes to ecstatic 'Bravos', it was a case of right film, right time. A story of Algerian soldiers fighting both the German army and prejudice of their French paymasters in the Second World War, it arrived as resentment still smouldered in the wake of Paris' race riots.
Though Bouchareb remains frank in his treatment of racial tension and colonial cynicism, aspirations to a worthy message are sabotaged by technical bravado. Rather than develop a style reminiscent of his North African roots, Bouchareb has gone for a Hollywood war movie through and through.
And while the misery is as powerful as ever, this was an opportunity to say something new - about the Muslim memory of a western war - and it's an opportunity missed.
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