环球英语 — 123：Days of Glory

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I’m Marina Santee.

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And I’m Liz Waid. Welcome to Spotlight 1. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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Crowds of people gather. Some of them are rich and famous. Others hope that they will be rich and famous one day. They all have one thing in common - the film industry. Here in France, it is the Cannes Film Festival. This popular event happens every year in the town of Cannes, on the south coast. It is a great honour to win a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Usually many people go and see the winning 2 film.

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The judges also award prizes to actors at the festival. Normally 3 the judges give the prize to one actor only. But in 2006, they awarded the prize to four men. These four men had acted in a film called “Days of Glory”.

The film tells the story of some North African soldiers. They joined the French army in 1943. This was during the Second World War. These soldiers had never been to France. But their African country, Algeria, was under French rule. It was a colony 4 of France. The soldiers had heard that the French army needed new members. They felt it was their duty to fight. In some way they felt that they, too, were French.

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Each soldier has his own struggle. The main person, or character, in the film is called Said. This character’s mother does not want him to go away. But Said does not listen. He is serious about fighting. No one can stop him.

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Another character in the film is Messaoud. He falls in love with a French woman. He writes many letters to her. But the army officers change these letters. They read them first. Then they remove any writing they do not think the woman should see. Messaoud does not know that the officers are interfering 5 in this way.

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Abdelkader is the third character. He is a very good soldier. But he never has the chance to become an officer. He believes this is because he is not a ‘White’ French man. He becomes very angry and leaves the army.

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Then there is the character of Yassir. He, too, has decided 6 to fight in the French army. But he also feels that the army officers are unfair. They treat the colonial 7 soldiers differently from the white soldiers. But he decides to stay and fight. And he shows great courage in battle.

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The director 8 of the film was Rashid Bouchareb. Mr. Bouchareb is French. But his family is from North Africa. He says that the colonial soldiers fought very hard for France in the Second World war. And he believes that France owes 9 them for this! But France has simply forgotten about them. He said,

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“It is my aim to open a forgotten chapter in the history of France.”

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So why were these soldiers so important? What part did they play in the Second World War?

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In 1940, German forces invaded 10 the north of France. The Germans took only six weeks to capture 11 the capital city, Paris. But the Germans were not going to stop there. They planned to capture the rest of the country too. The French Prime 12 Minister was worried. The French government had been in Paris.

The Prime Minister said that the government should move. He suggested that they move to one of France’s colonies 13 in Africa. However, some government members did not like this idea. They decided that it would be better to work with Germany. They voted for a new Prime Minister. He was called Henri-Philippe Petain. He believed it would be better for France to make peace with the enemy. So he signed a peace treaty 14 with the Germans.

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At that time the French Minister for War was Charles de Gaulle. He did not agree with the peace treaty. It left France without a real army to fight her enemies. So he decided to create an army. But he was not in France at the time. He was in London. So he asked French people outside of France to join his army. He called it, the “Free French” army. He also said,

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“Remember this, France does not stand alone. Behind her stands a large number of colonies.”

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After some time, the French colonies answered General de Gaulle’s request. About three hundred thousand [300,000] men joined the army. They came from twenty-three [23] colonies in West Africa, North Africa and Asia. This army fought the Germans in the south of France. They also fought in Italy.

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The colonial soldiers fought the enemy with courage. Many of them died. But they were also fighting another battle. This battle was in their own army. It was a struggle against the attitudes of white French soldiers. The army officers did not treat the colonial soldiers in the same way as the white soldiers. The officers called them, “indigenes” - the French word for ‘natives’. The white French soldiers considered the indigenes to be on a lower 15 social level than them. The indigenes could not become army officers. Sometimes they received less food than the white soldiers.

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This unfair behaviour continued after the war. Normally, soldiers receive a pension 16 when they leave the army. This pension is money from the French government. This helps ex-soldiers to survive. But the colonial soldiers received a smaller pension than the white French soldiers. The government was not willing 17 to change the system. One former soldier from North Africa said:

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“We helped win the war. But after it, no one thanked us. North Africans did not have the same pension rights as French soldiers. It is unjust 18. They should have changed the law a long time ago.”

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But now there is good news. In September 2006 the French government announced that the law would change. They have promised that former colonial soldiers will receive the same pension as former French soldiers. This will cost the government over five hundred million [$500,000,000] dollars a year. A government minister said:

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“This is a lot of money, but I think it is worth it. We need to recognize what these soldiers did for France.”

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But why did the government change its mind when it did? People have been demanding changes for years. Some think it is because of Rachid Bouchareb’s film, “Days of Glory”. The French President, Jacques Chirac, went to see the film. It affected 19 him greatly. But maybe it is not important to know the reason. France now recognizes what these colonial soldiers did for the country. This is what matters. As Rachid Bouchareb says,

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“I made this film to show we are part of France’s history. We belong to this country’s past.”