A French film about the poorly rewarded sacrifices by African troops to free occupied France has drawn praise in Algeria, but veterans say Paris has other hard truths to confront about its record in its former colony.

The Africans are told their sacrifices will bring them the same rewards and recognition as their French comrades.
Instead they are used like cannon fodder by officers to expose German machine-gun positions, are passed up for promotion and end up with far smaller pensions than French troops.

After seeing a preview of the film, French President Jacques Chirac demanded last month that the pensions of thousands of overseas veterans be raised to the same level as those of their French peers.

"Chirac's decision is fair but it doesn't mean we are going to forget about what happened during the occupation of our country," said 80-year-old Abderahmane Choeib, one of 80,000 Algerians who helped liberate France.

In May 1945, thousands of Algerians who took to the streets to demand independence as Europe celebrated victory over Nazi Germany were killed in a crackdown by French forces.

A savage war to end more than a century of French domination began in 1954, involving brutality and torture on both sides and costing hundreds of thousands of lives -- Algiers says 1.5 million -- before independence came in 1962.

To many Algerian Second World War veterans, France's resistance to demands for independence was a betrayal.
"I defended France. But when in 1945 I heard about the massacre of my people in Algeria by the French army, I got hot with anger," said veteran Mesbah Tahar, 82.

Feelings run high even among younger generations. Some who saw the film in Algiers said the French government should apologise for acts of violence during the colonial period.
"Instead of giving them (Algerian veterans) freedom as a reward, France massacred their people," one student said after seeing the film.

OLD WOUNDS

France is keen to retain its strong commercial and cultural influence in Algeria, Africa's second-largest country which is appealing for foreign investment to help rebuild after more than a decade of civil war.

Paris wants a new friendship treaty it says will set aside the painful burden of the past but has hesitated over Algerian demands for a clear apology, fearing huge compensation claims. Animosity and disagreements over events of long ago rumble on.

In July, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika raised the temperature by saying France's 130-year rule of the north African country was one of the "most barbaric forms of colonisation in history".

Algeria's government -- led by the National Liberation Front (FLN) which spearheaded the resistance against France -- has not reacted to Chirac's pensions decision, despite positive comments from Morocco, Tunisia and some West African states.

Last year, France's National Assembly approved a law referring to the "positive role of the French presence overseas, especially in North Africa". Bouteflika said it was "hard not to be revolted" by the law, which was later repealed.

Analysts say links of trade, investment, family and culture mean a crisis in French-Algerian relations is unlikely, barring the occasional upset.

But "Indigenes" director Rachid Bouchareb, who grew up in an Algerian immigrant family in a poor Paris suburb, said France needed to be more frank with itself.

"We must tell all the story," Bouchareb said at the film's Algerian premier. "I think France is ready to know about its history."