Indigènes

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Last night I went out to see the film "Indigènes" with seven of my fellow students in the Int'l Progamme at Sciences Po. (Just for the record, we were English, American, Spanish, and German). It just came out in France last week and has already made a big impact, sparking conversations in the media, the classrooms, the metro and even the halls of government. After hearing all the hype and seeing billboards plastered on every other metro stop, I decided I had to see it too- a good choice for my first film in France.

Indigènes (which translates to "The Indigenous") is the story of the indigenous peoples from Fance's north-African colonies who fought for France during WWII to liberate her from the Nazis. Ethnically and culturally Morrocan, Algerian, or Tunisian, they were sought out in their villages and urgerd to enlist. It was a time of desperate need when all of Europe was falling under the control of the Germans and France herself was occupied. Thousands of 'natives' from the colonies enlisted, even though very few spoke French, fewer still were trained in military combat, and most of them had never stepped foot in France. Some of their families had even been massacred by French troops during the 'pacification' process years earlier. These men joined for money, for honor, for a sense of patriotism, for the right to fight for freedom...and regardless of the motive, they soldiers played an important part in the French Army, a role that has never been properly recognized.

The film follows a small company of Algerian and Moroccan soldiers who enlisted in 1943 and successively fought battles in Italy (spring of 1944), celebrated in the newly-liberated Marseille (su,,er 1944), and then continued into the Valley of the Rhone in November of 1944. Excellently filmed, the movie does a great job of balancing the horrors of war with a plotline that shows the evolution of a rag-tag band of soldiers into a close unit. They encounter difficulties along the way, including racism, language barriers, discrimination in the army ranks, and trouble adjusting to the extreme cold of a French winter, but it is also a story of their own efforts to reconcile their internal differences and disparate motives for fighting. Some of the most interesting scenes are those that are spoken in Arabic, such as arguments among the men, prayer times, dances, and funerals, because these scenes show how they were able to retain their own faith and culture while fighting on the European continent, miles from home in an army where they were marginalized and slighted. There are many similarities between their story and that of black American soldiers who fought for the USA during the same war... Neither group had equal political rights or social status, and the barriers to advancement and racism was a daily part of their army life, yet both groups fought courageously and paid the same price as the white soldiers.

The company in the film was the first French unit to enter the occupied territory of Alsace (in order to join the Americans fighting there), a historic feat that will now be more fully recognized. As any war movie, the losses are heavy, and I (typically) found myself with tears in my eyes, trying to understand how we humans can inflict such suffering on each other over and over again... war is hard enough to see on the screen; I cannot imagine how it must be in real life. I thank, again, all of the veterans who have fought in the name of freedom and patriotism, regardless of the war. We owe a debt of gratitude to these men and women who did their duty regardless of the politics behind the war. On the front lines, it boils down to humanity and brotherhood- and the loss of these things. So thank you. I have to go see the war memorials in the north of France while I am here.

Indigènes is not simply another war film- on the contrary, it has a very strong political and social message underneath the action. All of these indigenous soldiers who fought courageously for France have never been given the recognition they deserve (either diplomatically or socially); the legacy of the bitterness left by the independence wars after WWII. Following the independence of the African colonies, France cut the war-veteran pension of these soldiers by two-thirds, despite the fact that many of these men chose to live in France following the war, and that all of them had made enormous personal sacrifices...as do all soldiers. The Moroccan and Algerian soldiers shed their blood to free their colonial ruler and were sunsequentially punished for their own peoples' temerity in desiring the same 'libérté, fraternité, et égalité' for themselves. It is a shameful component of France's history that this film is trying to call attention to, and to their credit they have succeeded admirably.

In 2002, the Conseil d'Etat (a political body) recommended that the war pensions of these veterans be reinstated to same amount as the ethnic French soldiers payments. However, successive governments resisted this action until just last week, when President Jacques Chirac saw the film and announced that the pensions would be restored fully. Sixty years too late, largely symbolic, and affecting only a handful of surviving veterans, this gesture is mostly political opportunism before the approaching elections, but it is still imporant and absolutely necessary. Better late than never, in my opinion.

I think that the film has definitely raised the consciousness of the French people to the contributions of the African soldiers during the war, and I hope this blog has been interesting to my American readers. Every country has its shameful stories, but if we continue to examine ourselves critically and are not afraid to admit mistakes, these mistakes can be corrected...or at least partially rectified. Congratulations to the producers and actors of 'Indigènes' for having the courage to reopen this issue and defend the legacy of their fathers...all of whom fought in the war. The ideals of libérté, égalité, and fratérnité are still alive and well. Buried sometimes, but still there.

Thinking of you in Paris~

~Robyn

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