Ventnor Film Society present Days of Glory at The Ventnor Winter Gardens.
The ‘indigènes’ of the title are the native Africans and Arabs recruited from France’s African colonies to fight for the La Patrie in the Second World War.
This powerful film sets out to show how these members of L’Armée de l’Afrique were used, exploited, humiliated and then cast aside.
Written and directed with controlled anger by a French movie-maker of Algerian parentage, Rachid Bouchareb, Indigènes tells the almost forgotten story of the gallant sacrifice made by native African troops, who gave their lives for a motherland most had never seen.
The surviving old soldiers had their pensions cancelled when their countries gained independence 15 years later, but this film persuaded President Chirac to change that policy and order back payments to those remaining.
France/Algeria 2006 128mins Cert 12A
Dir: Rachid Bouchareb
Cast: Samy Naceri, Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy, Sami Bouajila
Venue: Ventnor Winter Gardens
Curtains up: at 7.30pm
Tickets: £4.50 (£3.50 conc) or buy a season pass for all seven films for £26.25 (£17.50)
