The French film "Glorious Years" is an extraordinary war-themed film, and the reason why it is extraordinary is that this film does not follow the general commercial genre films and spares no effort to render cruel and fierce battle scenes, and praises the great heroes who fought bloodily for the country, the nation, ideals and beliefs; It also did not follow the general routine of anti-war genre films, lashing out at the cruelty and absurdity of war itself, and profoundly exposing the destruction and persecution of human nature by war. Algerian-French director Rachid Bouchareb takes a new approach to examine the indelible history of France during World War II from a new perspective, giving the film profound ideological connotations: race, equality, self-ownership, dignity, and faith......

The film tells the story of during World War II, young people from French Algeria and other North African countries responded to the call of President de Gaulle's "Declaration of Freedom" and went to the front line of France to fight bravely against Nazi Germany in order to liberate their motherland - France. The people of the colonies fought passionately for the colonial powers, and the behavior of these North African youths seemed to us somewhat incredible. But this is indeed the case in history, only because they have regarded France, which is advertised as "freedom, equality, and fraternity", as their homeland, and because they want to prove the value of their existence and obtain equal status and dignity with the French. However, the reality is often crueler than ideal, and their patriotic behavior is exchanged for a series of discrimination and inequality: their food is not as good as that of the native French soldiers, their pacifying treatment is not as good as that of the native soldiers, and although they are always assigned the most dangerous tasks during the war, they are neither rewarded and promoted after the war, nor are they praised and revered by the masses (media reporters).

As an Algerian-French national, director Rachid Bouchareb tells us a story about his own people, restoring an indelible but often forgotten historical truth during the Second World War. The overall style of the film is restrained and dignified, and it can be seen that the director is trying his best to suppress the excitement and grief in his heart. But even so, we can still feel the inner undercurrent of the film under its smooth and restrained mirror: the images of shadows caused by floating clouds skimming the ground again and again, the mournful and deep Muslim requiem that sounded again and again, the contradictions and conflicts between the characters shown again and again, and the pictures of the martyrs' cemeteries at the last moments, with subtitles explaining the despicable acts of the French government, can make us clearly feel the director's grief and indignation at the injustice suffered by his compatriots.

The film focuses on the portrayal of five protagonists: four Algerian warriors and an Arab-French governor. These five protagonists have different identities and personalities, and they vividly interpret the ideological connotation of the film. At last year's Cannes Film Festival, the five actors won the best actor award together, which can be said to be a full affirmation of the film's role in shaping the image of the characters. Corporal Abdelkrader is an idealist, he firmly believes that through his efforts and performance, he can fully obtain the recognition of the government and military, so as to prove his worth, but the reality of inequality makes all of Abdelkrader's ideals come to naught; A similar fate to Abdelkrade is the sniper Messaoud, who has always dreamed of marrying the French woman he loves, thus becoming a Frenchman in the truest sense of the word. The sergeant is a complex of contradictions, as an Arab-Frenchman, on the one hand, he actively fights for the rights and interests of his compatriots in front of his French superiors, and on the other hand, he strictly controls his compatriots as a Frenchman, and he is deeply afraid that others will know that he is also Algerian; The desireless and dedicated Said and the God-believing Yassir may impress many viewers, as they are both actors who are very familiar to fans, the former is played by Jamel Debbouze, who has performed well in films such as "Angel Amelie" and "Angel A", and the latter is played by Samy Naceri, the male lead in the "TAXI" series.

At the end of the film, after a fierce battle, all four protagonists are killed, except for Corporal Abdelkrader. However, the heroic deeds of the four fighters who independently resisted dozens of times their own number of German troops were not reported and unknown (except for a few villagers), and the surviving corporal Abdelkrader, like ordinary soldiers, joined the battle process of the large army and did not receive the rewards he deserved. Watching this film, it is very reminiscent of American director Edard Zick's "Glorious Battle", which tells the story of the American Civil War, a northern army composed of black people fought bravely for the unity of the country until the end of the heroic death. However, the black fighters of the American Civil War were much luckier, at least as President Lincoln once spoke highly of: "The participation of 200,000 blacks in the battle fundamentally turned the tide of the Civil War." On the other hand, these North African fighters who fought for France during World War II did not even receive a pension from the French government after the war.

The smoke of World War II had long since dissipated, and the pace of historical progress came to October 2005, when the French government's unjust and unequal policies on immigration and ethnic issues finally led to serious consequences - the Paris riots that shocked the world. The root cause of the riots, which spread rapidly from the suburbs of Paris to the whole country, was the French government's irrational immigration and ethnic policies, which led to the increasing marginalization of immigrants of North African descent and their descendants from mainstream society. This is undoubtedly a great irony for France, which has always flaunted "freedom, equality, and fraternity". Understanding this, we will be more soberly aware that the film "Glorious Years" not only has a historical sense of commemoration and reflection, but also a more realistic sense of criticism and criticism.

In 2006, there was no shortage of excellent films in the political field in the world film industry, including the restrained and solemn motherland film "The Wind Blows the Rice Waves", the smooth and soothing "Eavesdropping Storm" that explores human nature, the American-style main theme film "Blood Diamond" that highlights mainstream values, and the artistic wonder "Pan's Labyrinth", which perfectly combines politics and fairy tales and fables. Of course, there is also this extraordinary war film "Glory Days", a new perspective that gives the film a different ideological connotation from previous war films: race, equality, dignity, self-ownership, faith...... I believe that every viewer who has watched the film will have some shock and thinking in their hearts.