Viewing this film in a French cinema left much of the audience in tears, including myself. Indigenes examines the contribution of Arab/African volunteers who fought for Free French forces in World War II. French Arab/Berber actors play the main characters. Much of the film is in Arabic with subtitles. The soldiers portrayed fought in the less well-known campaigns in Italy, the Rhone and Vosges-Alsace during 1943-1944.
Restoring French national honour and developing a post-war consciousness lie at the heart of this film. The importance of Free French forces in the Liberation of France after the military disaster of 1940 is an underlying theme. The action scenes are well-choreographed. During the large-scale assault in Italy the troops appear to be used as disposable meat to locate German positions which can then be pounded with French artillery. The last small-scale encounter in an Alsatian village is one of the best action scenes I have seen. The fear/courage equation which grips a man fighting for his life is shown very effectively.
But this is no simple war movie. War is merely the stage upon which more contemporary and pressing themes are examined i.e. France's relationship to its 3½ million Muslim citizens and their relationship to La Patrie. Most scenes raise issues of identity. "What are we doing here?" is the sceptical question posed by one volunteer who has fought his way to a cold and wintry mountainous region leaving many dead comrades behind him.
The French officers and their Muslim volunteers both wish to believe in the national ideals of 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.' But doubts continue to arise. "When I was young, our families were killed by the French. Why?" asks one character. "Pacification," replies his friend. The film portrays an endemic 'institutional racism' within the French authorities of that time poor promotion prospects for Muslims, unequal rations, sandals on bare feet in the winter snow rather than regular army boots. More tellingly, army censorship of love letters from an Arab soldier to his French girlfriend.
Sergeant Martinez provides the only sympathetic face. He is a pied-noir who comes from European Christian colonist stock in North Africa. He supports the promotion of some of his soldiers whilst discouraging one intelligent and literate soldier (Saud) from his ambitions for an army career. The Martinez character shows the complexity of this whole colonial class. They were deeply insecure in their own identity regarding both metropolitan Frenchmen and their Arab/Berber compatriots. Martinez favours and then physically assaults his Arab batman Said, enraged by Said's revelation that he knows that Martinez' mother was also Arab. Colonialism had schizophrenic effects on many of its children. Having wished Martinez dead, Said later dies trying to save the man with whom he has had a very on/off relationship. Racial and class divisions go deep and make human bonding difficult.
In contrast, the relationship between ordinary French citizens and their Muslim liberators is portrayed as warm and generous. One girl offers herself to Saud and they part company on the understanding that their relationship is permanent. He explains that such a relationship would be socially unacceptable in his homeland. Racial mixing was always frowned upon more in the colonies than in the mother country fear of the colonisers themselves being colonised! The film ends with a visit to a war cemetery in Alsace and shows the graves of Muslim soldiers who 'mort pour la France.' We are informed that the French government froze the war pensions of these soldiers in the 1950's when the colonies became independent. This film helped to prod President Chirac into righting this wrong.
In its portrayal of officers in jeeps making patriotic speeches and Arab volunteers foot-slogging through difficult country, the film underlines a divide which continues to exist within French society. Official France offers well-meaning platitudes but continued to freeze war pensions. The French state perpetuates an anti-religious version of secularism which was born out of the great Schism of the French Revolution. The divisions of the 1790's continue to divide French society Republican/Monarchist, Left/Right, Secular/Religious and now non-Muslim/Muslim. Descendants of those soldiers who lie dead in that Alsatian cemetery 'mort pour la France' are denied the hijab in state schools. The same anti-religious spirit which framed the Ferry educational laws of 1879 is alive and well and is still trying to forge a new secular French identity out of the ashes of the Revolution. The search continues for a new non-religious superglue which will bind all Frenchmen, heart, mind and soul.
Paradoxically, in the USA (the main target of Jihadist terrorism), American Muslims should have no problem in forging a new American identity for themselves in a pro-religious, all-inclusive version of secularism which grew out of American history. France's secularism is as exclusive and narrow as her 'enarquist politocracy' and poses problems for Muslim integration.
Indigenes highlights the simple fact that we all have multiple identities. On the one hand it can be seen as a sensible and worthy attempt to integrate Muslims into official French history. On the other hand it raises uncomfortable issues about integration and identity within contemporary France. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity are only words. How French people live together under them is a complex and compelling matter.
The film successfully raises this issue. It shows one thread of French history in World War 2. There are many other threads Jews, German occupiers, collaborators, Resistance, slave labourers etc. Acknowledging the reality of these different histories and empathising with the characters involved is, in my opinion, the only real way forward in creating a present and future identity which we can all feel part of. History remains the most important subject to study. Fanaticism, ill-will and violence arise out of ignoring it. A deep and thorough study of our multiple histories can only unite humans and light our way forward. This film is a major contribution towards lighting that path.
Restoring French national honour and developing a post-war consciousness lie at the heart of this film. The importance of Free French forces in the Liberation of France after the military disaster of 1940 is an underlying theme. The action scenes are well-choreographed. During the large-scale assault in Italy the troops appear to be used as disposable meat to locate German positions which can then be pounded with French artillery. The last small-scale encounter in an Alsatian village is one of the best action scenes I have seen. The fear/courage equation which grips a man fighting for his life is shown very effectively.
But this is no simple war movie. War is merely the stage upon which more contemporary and pressing themes are examined i.e. France's relationship to its 3½ million Muslim citizens and their relationship to La Patrie. Most scenes raise issues of identity. "What are we doing here?" is the sceptical question posed by one volunteer who has fought his way to a cold and wintry mountainous region leaving many dead comrades behind him.
The French officers and their Muslim volunteers both wish to believe in the national ideals of 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.' But doubts continue to arise. "When I was young, our families were killed by the French. Why?" asks one character. "Pacification," replies his friend. The film portrays an endemic 'institutional racism' within the French authorities of that time poor promotion prospects for Muslims, unequal rations, sandals on bare feet in the winter snow rather than regular army boots. More tellingly, army censorship of love letters from an Arab soldier to his French girlfriend.
Sergeant Martinez provides the only sympathetic face. He is a pied-noir who comes from European Christian colonist stock in North Africa. He supports the promotion of some of his soldiers whilst discouraging one intelligent and literate soldier (Saud) from his ambitions for an army career. The Martinez character shows the complexity of this whole colonial class. They were deeply insecure in their own identity regarding both metropolitan Frenchmen and their Arab/Berber compatriots. Martinez favours and then physically assaults his Arab batman Said, enraged by Said's revelation that he knows that Martinez' mother was also Arab. Colonialism had schizophrenic effects on many of its children. Having wished Martinez dead, Said later dies trying to save the man with whom he has had a very on/off relationship. Racial and class divisions go deep and make human bonding difficult.
In contrast, the relationship between ordinary French citizens and their Muslim liberators is portrayed as warm and generous. One girl offers herself to Saud and they part company on the understanding that their relationship is permanent. He explains that such a relationship would be socially unacceptable in his homeland. Racial mixing was always frowned upon more in the colonies than in the mother country fear of the colonisers themselves being colonised! The film ends with a visit to a war cemetery in Alsace and shows the graves of Muslim soldiers who 'mort pour la France.' We are informed that the French government froze the war pensions of these soldiers in the 1950's when the colonies became independent. This film helped to prod President Chirac into righting this wrong.
In its portrayal of officers in jeeps making patriotic speeches and Arab volunteers foot-slogging through difficult country, the film underlines a divide which continues to exist within French society. Official France offers well-meaning platitudes but continued to freeze war pensions. The French state perpetuates an anti-religious version of secularism which was born out of the great Schism of the French Revolution. The divisions of the 1790's continue to divide French society Republican/Monarchist, Left/Right, Secular/Religious and now non-Muslim/Muslim. Descendants of those soldiers who lie dead in that Alsatian cemetery 'mort pour la France' are denied the hijab in state schools. The same anti-religious spirit which framed the Ferry educational laws of 1879 is alive and well and is still trying to forge a new secular French identity out of the ashes of the Revolution. The search continues for a new non-religious superglue which will bind all Frenchmen, heart, mind and soul.
Paradoxically, in the USA (the main target of Jihadist terrorism), American Muslims should have no problem in forging a new American identity for themselves in a pro-religious, all-inclusive version of secularism which grew out of American history. France's secularism is as exclusive and narrow as her 'enarquist politocracy' and poses problems for Muslim integration.
Indigenes highlights the simple fact that we all have multiple identities. On the one hand it can be seen as a sensible and worthy attempt to integrate Muslims into official French history. On the other hand it raises uncomfortable issues about integration and identity within contemporary France. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity are only words. How French people live together under them is a complex and compelling matter.
The film successfully raises this issue. It shows one thread of French history in World War 2. There are many other threads Jews, German occupiers, collaborators, Resistance, slave labourers etc. Acknowledging the reality of these different histories and empathising with the characters involved is, in my opinion, the only real way forward in creating a present and future identity which we can all feel part of. History remains the most important subject to study. Fanaticism, ill-will and violence arise out of ignoring it. A deep and thorough study of our multiple histories can only unite humans and light our way forward. This film is a major contribution towards lighting that path.