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In theaters
DAYS OF GLORY, directed by Rachid Bouchareb, written by Olivier Lorelle, 120 minutes, rated R. In French with English subtitles.
Rachid Bouchareb’s “Days of Glory” offers a timely twist on the World War II genre, which lately has enjoyed a significant boost by exploring new niches.
Bouchareb’s film is no exception.
The movie follows a troop of indigenous North African soldiers who joined the French army in 1943 to fight for France. It was a country these soldiers had never seen, but which they nevertheless were willing to die for in spite of the fact that, as Muslims, they were treated as second-class citizens by the French fighting alongside them.
As written by Olivier Lorelle, this Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film reaches back into the past to give these men their due.
The film focuses on Said (Jamal Debbouze), Messaoud (Raschdy Zem), Yassir (Samy Naceri) and Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) as they leave Algeria to join the battle in spite of feeling shunned by a motherland that refuses to embrace them. The idea that these men are at once unwanted and needed by France is a notion the country reinforces in their dismissive treatment of them.
The discrimination they encounter is cruel, yet the men still take to the frontlines to fight. They do so out of honor, but also in an effort to tear down the borders between them and the French. They believe that proving themselves on the battlefield is the only place for change and equality to begin.
As good as the movie is, it isn’t without its problems. It overlooks the fact that some North African soldiers broke ranks to fight alongside the Germans (mentioning this would have deepened the film), and its forced, maudlin ending is a cliche that should have been axed altogether. Still, given the fierce staging of the final battle scene and the film’s excellent performances – Debbouze and Naceri are standouts, as is Bernard Blancan as their sergeant – the movie’s power is undeniable.
In a time in which so many Muslims are misunderstood, feared and vilified because of the terrorist acts of a few, here is a movie that bends time to offer another view. “Days of Glory” won’t win the Academy Award – that likely will go to “Pan’s Labyrinth,” another film set during the period of World War II – but awards are fleeting. The film’s lasting importance is twofold – it remembers these men as allies and, after its successful viewing at the Cannes Film Festival, it shamed France into restoring their pensions, which had been frozen since 1959 in the wake of decolonization.
Grade: B+
On DVD
THE PRESTIGE, directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, 135 minutes, rated PG-13.
If movies are among our greatest, most enduring vehicles for illusion, then a movie about dueling illusionists should, in theory, offer that same sleight of hand – only amplified. Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige” is just that sort of movie, and in spite of echoing the similar “The Illusionist,” it pulls through with panache.
The film is among last year’s more compelling and baffling movies, a beautifully photographed, nicely acted period thriller in which two popular illusionists working the crowds in 19th century London are divided by an obsession that’s far from magical. It’s murderous.
Since the movie follows Nolan’s “Memento” in that much of its success depends on revealing as little of its fractured plot as possible, we’ll brush only the edges.
The film stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, respectively, two competing magicians who begin the movie on a disastrous note when Angier’s wife (Piper Perabo) drowns in a trick gone awry.
Since it was Borden who tied together her wrists for the trick (she didn’t think the knot he tied would be a problem), Angier blames Borden for her death and their bitter, all-consuming rivalry is born.
What Nolan mounts from this is a controlled spectacle of rage, jealousy and hubris, with a marvelously cast Michael Caine cutting through the dense plot as Cutter, who devises for Angier the fussy machinery necessary to compose his illusions. Also helping Angier in that regard is real-life inventor Nikola Tesla, played here by David Bowie, who has a way with electricity that might just allow Angier to possess the sort of magic trick that even the gifted Borden couldn’t fathom.
Dividing the two men is Olivia, Angier’s magician’s assistant, who is played by Scarlett Johansson with precisely the sort of slutty zest she should have brought to her failed performance in the “Black Dahlia,” which wasted her. Nolan, on the other hand, uses her to great effect, and what we have in Johansson’s performance further ripens a movie that isn’t afraid to wallow in the occasional pool of melodrama.
Since the very title of the movie refers to slang for the third act of a magic trick – the payoff, as it were, in which the crowd is wowed – one will do well to listen to Angier and Borden when they ask those close to them and their audience whether they are paying attention. Essentially, they’re speaking for Nolan, who is busy priming his audience for his own prestige. When it comes, does it add up? Is it satisfying? For the most part, yes, though as with any magic trick whose devices are revealed, learning the trick evaporates any possibility for real magic, which is something of a downer.
Since Nolan won’t allow for that, he closes his film with a controversial final shot that, at my screening last October, sent the sort of ripple through the crowd that any magician – or filmmaker, for that matter – would crave.
Grade: B+
Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays, and on weekends in Television, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.
The Video/DVD Corner
Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.
The Ant Bully – B+
Babel – A-
The Black Dahlia – C-
The Break-Up – B
Cars – C
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A
Clerks II – B+
Crank – B+
Curious George – B
The Da Vinci Code – C+
The Departed – A
The Descent – B+
The Devil Wears Prada – B+
Double Indemnity – A
Failure to Launch – C-
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – B
Flushed Away – B+
Flyboys – C-
Friends with Money – B
The Gridiron Gang – C+
Half Nelson – A-
Hollywoodland – C
How Art Made the World – A
The Illusionist – B+
Inside Man – B+
Invincible – B
Jackass Number Two – B
Junebug – A
Last Holiday – B
Little Miss Sunshine – B+
Lucky Number Slevin – B
Mad About You: Complete Third Season – B
The Marine – C+
Miami Vice – C
Mission Impossible III – C-
Monster House – B+
Mr. Moto Collection: Vol. 2 – B+
My Super Ex-Girlfriend – A-
Nacho Libre – C
Open Season – B
Over the Hedge – B
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – B-
Poseidon – B
A Prairie Home Companion – C
The Prestige – B+
Running with Scissors – C+
Shut Up & Sing – A-
Slither – B
Snakes On A Plane: A-
Superman Returns – C+
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – B
This Film is Not Yet Rated – B-
United 93 – A
V for Vendetta – B+
Warner’s Romantic Classics Collection – B+
World Trade Center – A
X-Men: The Last Stand – B-
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