Days of Glory, which tells the long-neglected story of Algerian soldiers who fought with France during World War II, easily could have become sanctimonious.

But the movie is too good for that: It brings us to precisely the right point, the moment at which there's nothing left to be experienced but a necessary sorrow. Days of Glory deals with the sacrifice of men who were invisible to those for whom they gave so much. It is a shattering tale of bravery and unrewarded loyalty.

Director Rachid Bouchareb, a Parisian of Algerian descent, has made a bracing yet realistic war movie in which the dedication of the soldiers constantly plays against the discrimination that dogs them.

In a sense, these soldiers were duped. They fought for the liberty and honor of a country that didn't respect them and had no interest in seeing them achieve equality. The patterns of discrimination we discover in Days of Glory are all too familiar: second-rate food and the lack of well-deserved promotions to name a couple.

These issues are made clear, but Bouchareb doesn't allow his rich gallery of characters to become illustrations of injustice: He develops them in ways that blend with the pressures generated by constant fighting. The Algerian soldiers seldom were granted leave, and their skills and endurance were taxed to the breaking point.

I doubt whether you'll find a better ensemble cast in any movie this year. Bernard Blancan plays a sergeant who drives the men hard, occasionally trying to advance their interests. Sami Bouajila portrays a corporal who's studying to win a promotion. The French officers who could recognize his capabilities consistently ignore him.

Jamel Debbouze appears as Said, an illiterate young man and dedicated soldier who develops a relationship with the sergeant. That friendship leads to one of the movie's most powerful scenes. It doesn't take place on the battlefield, but reveals another layer of complexity in the social structure of the unit.

Not all of the French disdain the Algerians. One of the soldiers (Roschdy Zem) develops a romantic relationship with a French woman, who attempts to remain devoted to him. Her letters to him never get past the censors.

As Clint Eastwood did last year, Bouchareb makes a major contribution to the big-screen literature of war, and like Eastwood, he puts clarity above self-conscious displays of technique. The battle sequences are perfectly handled, and the movie ends with a coda that borrows a page from Saving Private Ryan, although it goes a little further than Steven Spielberg's movie.

In Europe, where the collision of cultures (Muslim and the classically French) is all too real, Days of Glory may have a different kind of resonance than it does in the U.S. But at least by extension, the movie pays tribute to all those who adopt the ideals of a country that refuses to accept them. The movie's French title, Indigènes (Natives), does more to suggest the movie's painful meaning.

In the end, Days of Glory has a twofold importance. It brings to life a chapter of French history that included fair measures of nobility and shame, and it tells a sad story of war and how those who fight them tend to recede into the anonymous pages of history.

Bouchareb revives these soldiers so that their lives, both as Algerians and as individuals, won't entirely be forgotten. He succeeds beautifully.