Koma

Starring:Koma
Studio: Tartan Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

(War/Action) Set during WWII, North African soldiers enlist in the French army and battle their way across Europe to liberate the "fatherland" and confront discrimination.

Customer Reviews:

Compelling Battles, a Social Conscience, & a Different View of France's Liberation. .......2007-06-30

Director Rachid Bouchareb made "Days of Glory" to draw attention to the plight of men from France's protectorates and colonies who served in the French military during World War II but who were denied their pensions after 1959, because their countries had won independence from France. The film is very politically charged in France, where its title is simply "Indigenes", meaning "natives". It inspired President Jacques Chirac to finally address the pension inequities. Bouchareb doesn't hide his agenda or his bias: The North African soldiers in the film joined the French army mostly for money, occasionally for opportunity. They fought valiantly and loyally to free France from German occupation. They were stifled by discrimination and quotas during the war and discarded afterward. The specific events and characters in the film are fictional, though some French towns were, indeed, liberated by regiments of mostly North African soldiers.

In 1943, France's African Army recruits soldiers from Algeria, among them a young shepherd named Said (Jamel Debbouze), and from "goumiers" in Morocco, including Yassir (Samy Naceri), who hopes to make enough money for his brother to marry well. In 1944, the 7th Algerian Infantry Regiment, under the command of French "pieds-noir" Sergeant Martinez (Bernard Blancan) and Arab Corporal Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila), win France's first victory against the German army in Italy. They arrive in Marseilles to much fanfare, where their marksman Messaoud (Roschdy Zem) begins a relationship with a French woman (Aurelie Bouab). Abdelkader is increasingly frustrated with the lack of promotion and "liberte, egalite, and fraternite" for African soldiers, inspiring a minor civil rights movement. But the war goes on, and the Regiment will be the first French in Alsace, as they attempt to hold the Germans off until the Americans arrive.

"Days of Glory" won't pack the political punch for Americans that it does for French, but this is a terrific war movie. It tells a World War II story that we haven't seen before, and it features two of the most compelling battle scenes I've ever seen: Flushing the Germans out in mountainous Italy elucidates the fear of the soldiers in their first battle and the utter randomness of who lives or dies. The defense of the Alsacian town is in some ways the opposite, as we know the soldiers well by this time and hope they will survive. The four North African leads represent diverse types: Unsophisticated Said's boyish devotion to his Sergeant, mature Messaoud who is not savvy enough to see the hypocrisy around him, mercenary Yassir whose dedication to his comrades grows, and idealistic Abdelkader who hopes their service to France will advance the position of North Africans. Viewers inevitably sympathize with those most like themselves, but those characters involve us emotionally in the events. In French and Arabic with optional subtitles.

The DVD (Weinstein 2007): "The Making of Days of Glory" (24 min) interviews the director, producer, and writer Olivier Lorelle about researching the film, bringing the story of their ancestors to the screen, and shedding light on the role of North African troops. The cast discusses their preparation and characters. Subtitled. "The Colonial Friend" (8 min) is an animated film by director Rachid Bouchareb about the experience of Senegalese infantrymen who fought for France and met a worse fate than the North Africans. The animation style is a unique, eye-catching black-and-white. No dialogue. English and Spanish subtitles are available for the film.

Not an Epic - but still a good movie.......2007-06-25

I would not call this movie an epic, not by a long shot. It is good, yes, the acting in fact is very good - but it is no "Saving Private Ryan".

Much of the fighting is small scale, still good, but not to the beach assault scenes that we have come to expect of great WW2 movie epics. The story to be told, is certainly political, and while it is difficult to get emotionally attached or close to any of the characters in the movie you find yourself angered at the manipulation and lies that are used by the French Officers to coerce and cajole the Algerians to blindly continue the fight for their beloved France.

My only criticism of the movie would be that I found it extremely distracting that one of the main characters, Sai`d (actor Jamal Debbouze) went through the entire war with his right hand stuck in his jacket pocket and I kept wondering why? I later found out that Debbouze, lost the use of his right arm in a childhood accident. But surely, in a war movie such as this you would be able to find ample opportunity to write into the script a reason that would adequately cover such a wound - other than just having the arm super-glued into an army jacket pocket??? I mean to take nothing away from Debbouze's skill as an actor, because I thought he did a great job in the part as Sai`d in this movie, I just think it a shame that rather than allowing me to focus on the character he portrayed so well, my attention was constantly drawn to his damn right hand in that damn pocket!!

They were so so days........2007-06-22

The movie is incoherent. The acting is stiff, not convincing.
There are two touching scenes in the whole DVD. One is where an Algerian soldier stepped on a case of fresh tomatoes and said to his French captain "If tomatoes are not given to everybody, then nobody will get one".
The second is where another Algerian soldier rushed to a room and tried to carry his wounded French captain away from the house while the Germans were entering it. They ended up being killed by the German anti-tank gun. Had the soldier just run away by himself and left his commander behind, he would have had escaped death.
The film is good in term of anti-racism. It is worth renting not buying.
Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, the Longest Day, the Lost Battalion, Gettysburg and Gods and Generals are still the only titles on my list of Best War Movies of All Times.

worth owning, a war movie that tackles racism and cultural questions.......2007-06-21

I like war movies, i glanced at the box in the video store, quickly misinterpreted what it was about and rented it.

From this fortunate mistake came an interesting and worthwhile experience. For i knew nothing about the colonial French army in WW2 and this is an excellently done movie, that not only informs but motivates and interests me in the topic as well.

Usually movies with an deeply felt political or social point, loose the film making quality, sacrificing it for the bigger emotional point that the authors wish to get across. It is rare for a movie to have good historical knowledge-it's often twisted to fix predispositions, good film making technic-character development, coherent plot, and good filming, and a deep political point or as this movie does tackle currently hot button topics. "Z" and "The Battle of Algiers" and "Hell in a Very Small Place" are the only other movies quite like this one that i can remember, combining war with political and social commentary and not loosing sight of the need to present the film technically well.

The big point is explained in the "making of days of glory", the usual dvd additional features, for once worth watching and much better than the usual shovelware. That is for those French citizens today of North African (or Sengalese) descent to relearn the sacrifices their grandfathers and great-grand fathers made in liberating France from the Nazis. As a second point, for those French citizens of European descent to be more aware and thankful for the few remaining ex-colonials soldiers in their midst before they die, and to acknowledge that those people in their lives from Africa have long ago paid in blood for their right to be there and to be genuine Frenchmen.

The movie is about racism, judging a person by the color of their skin or the culture of their parents without making any attempt to hear their stories, to see what they have done, where they have come from or what they believe. The movie in a rather nice but complex way shows several ways that racism twists and distorts human relationships. It is also good to see the arena as something other than the US, for racism is not just an American problem but a human one.

The scene with the tomatoes. Only white French troops are given them, the North Africans and Sengalese are not. But as the movie points out, bullets don't discriminate, they indiscriminately kill anyone wearing a French uniform. The scene with the ballet dancers, culture is deeply embedded in us all and we can only see it oftentimes when it grinds into another one and the differences are made obvious to us. When the main character mounts the box and tells the soldiers that both France and the colonials must change, there is a veiled reference to the post-WW2 colonial wars of independence that make the issues of the movie so complex and difficult to understand. When you see the violence with which the sargent responses to the knowledge that he is a son of a Berber women, you can (as all good movies do) feel both his shame and the surprise of the other man at his comment being so hated when it was offered in deep and understanding sympathy. And that is the great value of learning with movies, the visceral, the emotional impact of images and a story told with them. Now i can, and probably will, look into the issue with more reading, but this is an excellent place to learn something about a neglected and important time in recent history.

Pieces of the movie are very attractively done, the uniforms-baggy North African turbans and robes with sandals, in the French winter (how can anyone live in this cold?, a point echoed in me). The fear, the brotherhood of warriors, the French white women plus the Berber soldier and the way society seems to conspire to destroy their relationship, the way some of them steal from the dead. The movie is full of unique and moving pieces that will make it a movie worth owning and watching again, there is too much going on, too many new connections for the viewer to make to be satisfied with a single pass through it.

I think that this movie is a genuine contribution to the ongoing dialogue between not just the European colonial powers and their African colonies, but between Islam and Christianity, racism and cultural conflicts. I need only remember that Augustine was called names because he was small and dark, for Monica was a Berber, to remember that Christianity is not European, not in origin nor in extent. I can hate and fear Islam as the greatest competitor of my faith, but that does not mean that every Muslim is my personal enemy, nor does it mean that i can't respect and honor them for their good deeds.

it is a worthwhile experience, not only for the excitement and passion but for an analysis of the deeper and more important issues that it tries to teach and push us into. thanks to all involved in making this movie and making it available to me to watch

Flawed, but very good overall.......2007-06-16

As a military history buff, I must first say that I am pleased that a film was made at all about this subject, which is little known by most people,especially Americans. World War II was the swan song of the old "Armee D'Afrique", the French colonial army that was similiar in many ways to the British Indian Army of the Raj. Since the vast bulk of metropolitan Frenchmen were under German occupation, or in German POW camps as a result of the defeat in 1940, the bulk of any French Army had to consist of the North African Regiments, from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, along with Senegalese and other colonial troops.
Anyone who has read the book "France, Soldiers, and Africa" will not be surprised by the events depicted in this movie; the treatment of the "native" troops was often shameful and ungrateful, despite their sacrifices on the battlefield, for a country that most had never seen.
The acting I believe was generally good, but the characters were not as fleshed out as I would like; perhaps as result of the number of major characters portrayed. The first set piece battle scene had large numbers, but was weakly drawn, and not that coherent; the final action scenes were better, in my opinion. Uniforms and equipment seemed to be reasonably authentic, but a mention of the U.S. 37th Division was incorrect; the 36th Division would have been correct, but I nit-pick.
Could the film have been improved upon? Yes, but the fact that was done at all, and reasonably well, made it well worth my time.

Average customer rating:

Refreshing
A Completely Delightful and Tender Little Film About Disenfranchised Kids
A Must See!
Donne-moi des vacances!

We Need a Vacation
Starring: Thylda Barès , Siraboula Sissoko , Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux , Thomas Pitiot , and Ibrahim Koma
Director: Didier Bivel
Manufacturer: Picture This!
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002B55G6
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Customer Reviews:

Refreshing.......2007-01-23

Simple story of suburb children dreaming to get a vacation during summer holidays and actually getting it.

A Completely Delightful and Tender Little Film About Disenfranchised Kids.......2007-01-08

'Fais-moi des vacances' (WE NEED A VACATION) is a finely wrought little film that studies the disparities between the classes in France while introducing us to a warmly tender and humorous friendship between two young lads. Directed and written by Didier Bivel (with writing assistance from Djamila Djabri) it offers a slice of life we rarely see - that underbelly of France's projects where mixed races strive to exist without the amenities of those with means who surround their neighborhoods.

Lucien (Aymen Saïdi) lives with his father (Bernard Blancan), mother (Hiam Abbass), young sister Pamela (Laura Mas Navarro), and his tough streetwise older brother José (Nabil El Bouhairi) in a small flat. Close by is his African friend Adama (Ibrahim Koma) and his equally poor family of father (Makan Fofana), mother (Marie-Philomène Nga) and sister Fanta (Hawa Yakaré Sissoko). As school ends the kids whose families have money take them on a vacation, a state neither Lucien nor Adama can afford despite their obsession with that luxury. The two boys manipulate funds and ideas and ultimately come up with the idea of secretly jumping aboard a RUV of a family headed for the beach. BUT despite the success of their plan and the encouragement of the daughter of the van's owners, the boys end up not at the beach but at a nudist camp, a fact that makes them flee! Upon returning home both boys' families punish their activities and when Lucien seeks comfort from his older brother, José beats him and tells him to grow up. In the end the boys finagle their way to the beach, but of course by this time vacation time is over and they are on an empty beach re-evaluating their lives.

The cast is uniformly strong, the writing is excellent, and the camera work not only captures the claustrophobia of the projects but also opens up the vistas of the boys' imaginations. It is a fine little film, one deserving of a wide audience. Grady Harp, January 07

A Must See!.......2005-07-18

A profoundly poignant and thought provoking French coming of age drama about two young youths desperately in need of time away from their poverty stricken homes. The performances by the two males leads are unforgettable and the writing and direction is top notch. The score for the film (particularly its theme song) is quite a effective as is also the cinematography.

Donne-moi des vacances!.......2004-11-27

Two friends from a French inner-city dream of getting away to the sunshine. They try various means of raising money and stowing away in caravans and coaches to half live out their dream. This is set against their relationships with their families (petty criminal brother, loving mothers etc.).
Contains some genuinely amusing moments as well as the tristesse of their lives.

Average customer rating:

I Liked it...........
be careful whom you make friends with...
You Can Harvest My Organs, But You'll Never Win My Heart--"Koma" Is An Urban Legend Courtesy Of Hong Kong
original interesting thriller victim of a poor DVD treatment by Tartan...
An amateur effort all around

Koma
Starring: Raymond Wong , Andy Hui , Karena Lam , Angelica Lee , and Liu Kai-chi
Director: Lo Chi-Leung
Manufacturer: Tartan Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

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Face

ASIN: B0007M23D8
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Description

KOMA intricately weaves a jaw-clenching, teeth-grinding joyride through the darkest regions of the human psyche. A psychological thriller tackling the urban myth of organ theft from a humane perspective, Hong Kong director Lo Chi Leung weaves an emotional cat-and-mouse game between two women. As facts begin to emerge, the truth becomes clearerone has something that the other one desperately needs. As they become closer to each other, they find themselves on the brink of unspeakable danger.

Customer Reviews:

I Liked it..................2007-04-09

The movie opens with Ching at a wedding having a bit too much to drink. She ends up staggering down a hotel corridor and falling into an unlocked hotel room where she sees a woman on the floor bleeding. The police show up and it was another kidney theft. They bring Ching down to the station to watch some security tapes to look for clues and she spots a woman she had seen in the hall earlier on. The mysterious woman is named Ling and Ching soon finds out there is more to Ling than meets the eye. The two women become friends then Ling explains that she has been seeing Wai (Ching's boyfriend the whole time. To make it up to her Ching takes Ling with her to buy a kidney from the theif who has been stealing them. Definaltly worth a viewing.

be careful whom you make friends with..........2007-03-20

I thought that *Koma* was an interesting foreign thriller. *Koma* is based on the popular urban legend of one waking up in a bathtub of ice with a kidney surgically removed.

Ching is a beautiful woman who is drunk while celebrating her friend's wedding. After the wedding, she accidently stumbles into a hotel room where a woman is pleading for help, after her kidney has been removed. She is questioned by the police and comforted by her strict traditional family and her boyfriend, Wai.

Surprisingly, the movie moves at a reasonably quick pace. Almost immediately, Ching is being stalked...obviously, for her kidney. Predictably, she is captured and drugged for the surgery. However, things changed at the last minute and she is spared from surgery. We soon find out that she has a kidney disorder and is in dire need of a replacement or she'll soon be on dialysis.

Meanwhile, she befriends a woman named Ling. Ling has a past with Wai. In fact, she still has some connections with Wai. Wai has been giving her money to help Ling with her dying mother's accumulating medical bills. However, Ling reveals to Ching that they've been having affairs the whole time.

In the midst of Ching's confusion, hurt and revenge, Ching has to determine who is the actual kidney thief. This is where suspense builds up and it is good. But that's not all. Ching gets an offer that she cannot refuse. This is when things really get complicated but interesting.

You Can Harvest My Organs, But You'll Never Win My Heart--"Koma" Is An Urban Legend Courtesy Of Hong Kong.......2007-03-05

Having seen so many Asian horror films recently with a supernatural bent, I feared "Koma" might be more of the same. I have nothing against supernatural horror, per se, I was just in the mood for some variety. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised by the very real, yet delightfully over-the-top, world of "Koma" by Hong Kong filmmaker Chi-Leung Law. This lurid revenge film about illegal organ harvesting may not qualify as "art," but it embraces its delirious plot and brings a classic urban legend to life. And while I loved the macabre silliness of the film's central plot, its gruesome treats are somewhat hampered by inconsistent pacing and far-fetched story twists.

"Koma" begins innocently enough with Kar Yan Lam, as the film's meek heroine, attending a wedding reception. Stumbling drunkenly through a hotel, she happens upon a grisly scene. A young woman, bleeding profusely, has just awoken in a tub of ice with her kidney removed. While the victim is flailing on the floor for help, Lam herself narrowly escapes being murdered. We flash forward to the police station, Lam identifies another woman who she saw suspiciously lurking around the scene of the crime. This lady, played by Angelica Lee, may or may not be involved in the amateur surgery--but one thing is for sure, she has had an affair with Lam's fiance. This coincidence propels the remainder of the film as the ladies engage in some psychological headgames.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, it does evolve in rather unexpected ways. The relationship between the women (and the fiance, for that matter) is complicated. It changes in ways that I will not mention as the film does attempt some level of clever character development. The women may have more in common than it first appears. However, the film's "clever" revelations sometimes strain credibility. This is not an insurmountable problem for a briskly paced thriller, though--but "Koma," while always interesting, is not what I'd call fast paced. Therefore, the plot inconsistencies can be glaringly apparent. For example, there is a dream within a dream sequence that results in a real life tooth extraction--but it doesn't pan out logically and nor is it ever mentioned again. Our heroine is also in the stages of renal failure, but that doesn't stop her from partaking in excessive drink (a medical improbability).

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing this particular urban legend come to life. The more graphic scenes are well staged, and the actors are appropriately malleable to the largely unbelievable plot twists. "Koma" is still a lot of fun and I'd recommend it to fans of the genre. Ultimately, though, the film asks you to suspend disbelief and stick with it--even, when at times, I don't think it earns it. Not a total failure, "Koma" is an interesting film worth a look--but maybe not repeated viewing. KGHarris, 03/07.

original interesting thriller victim of a poor DVD treatment by Tartan..........2007-01-27

This movie is remarkably engaging. Some lunatic is stealing people's kidneys bringing terror to a young girl in particular. She suspects her boyfriend's former fling is behind all these gruesome mutilations.Some kind of personal vendetta theory that proves to be wrong in the end.
Filled with twists and surprises, the storyline is entertaining and original to the eye.
Nevertheless, Tartan made a poor transfer of this movie.White speckles are ever present throughout the picture and a lot of the scenes present shaky and jumpy images.it becomes annoying and you would expect these flaws from older movies, not movies made recently.Tartan needs to do better transfers if they wish to be considered a serious studio,the same transfer problems are present in Wishing Stairs for instance.

An amateur effort all around.......2006-10-04

This movie is utterly unremarkable -- actually, scratch that. This movie is actually VERY remarkable -- because of how BAD it is. First of all, the protagonist is pathetic: it's impossible for the viewer to sympathize with her because she is just a pitiful, weak person who does absolutely nothing to try and solve her problems; all she does is cry and moan. Second, the actors are some of the most wooden and stiff performers I've seen in any movie. Third, there are some plot gaps and questions that never get answered, which disrupt the movie's flow and continuity; for example, the protagonist gets hit head-on by an 18-wheeler truck, and her car is absolutely mangled, but she walks away without a scratch. Someone care to explain how that's possible?

I probably would have stopped watching this piss-poor excuse for a movie if I wasn't at a friend's house (and there's the fact that it's his movie): I sat through it just to be polite. When all is said and done, this movie just isn't worth your time. I'm glad I'm not the one who actually paid my hard-earned dollars to buy this piece of dung.

Average customer rating:

Koma
Starring: Raymond Wong , Andy Hui , Karena Lam , Angelica Lee , and Liu Kai-chi
Director: Lo Chi-Leung
Manufacturer: Tartan Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FVQYWW
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Average customer rating:

A movie worth watching!

Days of Glory
Starring: Jamel Debbouze , Samy Naceri , Roschdy Zem , Sami Bouajila , and Bernard Blancan
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005JPLB

Amazon.com

Hype can be a dangerous thing, and the newspaper ads touting Days of Glory (aka Indigenes, French for "Indigenous") as "so powerful it changed the world" are nigh on impossible for any movie to live up to. This one doesn't, but director Rachid Bouchareb's World War II drama still makes for compelling viewing. Confronting the Nazis both in Italy and at home in 1943, the French Army recruits men from Algeria, then a French colony, and other North Africans to help out. Of the film's two principal themes, one, the horrors of war, is nothing new. But the battle scenes are well done; the first major clash, on a bleak Italian hillside, effectively conveys the young Muslims' confusion and abject terror. The second theme is clearly the one that inspired Bouchareb in the first place: the eternal issue of race and discrimination (also explored in 1989's Glory, about black soldiers in the Civil War). Focusing in particular on four Algerians, including Jamel Debbouze as the naïve Saïd and Roschdy Zem as the lovestruck Messaoud, the films depicts how they are denied basics like food, mail delivery, time off, and such, effectively rendering meaningless the French ideal of liberty, equality, and brotherhood. It all culminates in a small town in Alsace, where the four find brief respite before having to face a much larger and better equipped German force (this scene, as well as a final bit in a cemetery, carry heavy echoes of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan). Bouchareb apparently made Days of Glory at least in part to shame the French government into handing over long-frozen pensions to surviving soldiers and their kin. French president Jacques Chirac finally approved the funds in 2006--apparently after seeing this film. So maybe it did change the world a little after all. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews:

A movie worth watching!.......2007-04-09

Days of Glory, brings to the screen a WWII tale of a French Algerian Unit facing discrimination by its European counterparts due to prejudice and ignorance.
It is 1943 and the setting is North Africa. The French armed forces are preparing to land troops in Europe to win back their homeland from the Axis Powers, but they cannot accomplish their task without recruiting men from their African colonies. The Africans themselves start their long journey full of hope and anticipation, but as they get closer to their goal they realize that their enemy is not necessarily the Germans...
Jamel Debbouze (Asterix and Obelix-Mission Cleopatra) and the rest of the cast carry out their performances very well.
In short, the music, the acting, the plot, the setting (!), and the dialogues are all very good.
In a nutshell, Days of Glory is movie definitely worth watching, as it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment.

Average customer rating:

A movie worth watching!

Days of Glory
Starring: Jamel Debbouze , Samy Naceri , Roschdy Zem , Sami Bouajila , and Bernard Blancan
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
ProductGroup: Theatrical Release
Binding: Theatrical Release

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

A movie worth watching!.......2007-04-09

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