A drama about racism on the front lines has shaken France, writes Michael Dwyer

IT IS often said of movies with a political or social agenda that while they may encourage debate by raising issues, they are essentially preaching to the converted and don't have the power to effect change. A striking exception is Rachid Bouchareb's powerful Days of Glory, which follows the fate of Algerian and Moroccan soldiers fighting on the French side in the second World War.

The film commemorates the sacrifices of these North African troops in the war and angrily illustrates the racism and injustice they faced from their French fighting partners. Closing captions note the ingratitude that followed when the colonies achieved independence in the early 1960s. France froze the pensions of those veterans who had risked their lives in its service.

Within four months of its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last May, Days of Glory opened to packed houses in France, and the subject of the frozen pensions became a political issue. President Chirac watched the film and conceded the point. He ordered the restitution of full pension payments to the surviving ex-soldiers. Too little, and much too late, perhaps, but a victory nonetheless.

Another significant achievement, in this post-9/11 world, was raising the budget for a movie that celebrates the heroism of Muslims. It helped enormously that the film attracted the vital support of Jamel Debbouze, who signed on for one of the leading roles and as co-producer. A charismatic, one-armed, Paris-born actor of Moroccan descent, Debbouze is a hugely popular TV comedy star in France who has been seen here in Amèlie and Angel.

Days of Glory focuses on four of the 130,000 north African volunteers, most of whom had never set foot on French soil before enlisting to save the "motherland" from the Nazis in 1943. They are a crack marksman (Roschdy Zem) who falls for a Frenchwoman; an educated Algerian corporal (Sami Bouajila) with naive ambitions of rising in the military ranks; a Berber (Sami Naceri) who joins up with his brother; and a young peasant (Debbouze) who is taken under the wing of their tough but caring sergeant, Martinez (Bernard Blancan).

All five players deservedly shared the best actor prize at Cannes last year for their vivid, committed portrayals of brave men mostly doomed to be cannon fodder. We follow them from battles in Italy and Provence, when the north Africans were fighting side by side with the French, to an Alsatian village where they stand alone against a German battalion.

The movie's original French title, Indigenes, translates as "natives", a condescending term used by the French soldiers in

the film and rejected by Sgt Martinez, who insists that all his troops are referred to as "the men". There are worst indignities as the indigenes are passed over for promotion, are refused the leave allowed to French troops, are given different food, and find their mail subjected to callous military censorship.

Their treatment as second- class citizens is outlined in parallel with their self-sacrifice for France throughout a robust war movie that makes for gripping cinema. The chaos of the conflict and the escalating death toll are unflinchingly captured through quite remarkable battle sequences, which are vigorously staged and impeccably edited in this outstanding film.