Monsieur Lazhar (2011)

It's Difficult NOT To Enjoy This Movie

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

As a teacher I was deeply impressed by this movie. It says in a delicate but clear way sometruths about our profession. In particular I was stunned by the profound true paranoia about physical contact with children. And I was very annoyed by the interference of families in teaching. I quote: "We prefer that you teach our daughter, not try to raise her."This happens daily in real life: family think that children are their intouchable property. Here in Italy almost daily we get news about relatives who go to school and threaten and even beat teachers!Furthermore this movie deals with doing the right thing. Some parents hate the new teacher and when they discover that he has not the right papers they get him fired. This is legally "right" but it is unfair from the point of view of the children who suffer two losses.I loved this movie for the fine acting, the right pace, the freedom it gives to the viewers to make an opinion by themselves. And my conclusion is that the main character had no titles to teach and he had to be fired even if he was fine and he was the right person for the class. But this is sad, really sad.

The terrible incident suddenly happens in one Canadian elementary school during the mundane but shattering opening sequence of "Monsieur Lazhar." While the students enjoy the free time outside the building, one of the schoolteachers is found dead, hanging herself up in her classroom. The other teachers quickly cover this tragedy from the kids as soon as they come to know what happens, but it leaves her students in shock and grief as a consequence even after some time has passed and the classroom has been repainted.When the principal, Mademoiselle Vaillancourt(Brigitte Poupart), needs a substitute teacher for the deceased teacher's class, one man appears in front of her out of nowhere. He is an Algerian immigrant named Bachir Lazhar(Mohamed Fellag, who is credited as Fellag in the film), and he is willing to work as a substitute teacher. According to him, he was an elementary school teacher for 19 years in his country he has recently left from.Lazhar is a gentle, likable man, so he is instantly hired by Mme. Vaillancourt, and soon he meets the kids in the class assigned to him. The start is a little rocky at first because he sets his standard a little too high for his young students(he uses Balzac's novel for the dictation test) and there is the cultural gap between them. But, after some few quick adjustments, everything goes pretty smoothly as before in the class; the students like him, and so do the other teachers in the school.However, Lazhar discerns that there remain unresolved emotional matters beneath his class. He thinks his students should be more opened about how they feel about that incident. Although they get the periodic counseling sessions with a child psychiatrist, he believes he and other teachers should be more active about his students' problem. Most of the other teachers, including Mme. Vaillancourt, understand his point, but they are reluctant or object to Lazhar, because the rules like the zero- tolerance-for-touching policy have confined their roles so much that dealing with their students is like, as one teacher in the movie says, handling radioactive waste.one small but important fact about Lazhar provides a little tension to the story. It is revealed early in the film that he was not a teacher as he said. As the matter of fact, he has not even been accepted by the Canada Government yet because he is currently under the examination for deciding whether he can be judged as a political refuge seeking asylum.The movie suggests that Lazhar may understand what some of his students are struggling through as a person still in his personal grief, but it does not choose an easy way of handling this connection between M. Lazhar and the students, and neither does Mohamed Fellag, who gives a quiet honest performance as a humble decent man with lots of empathy. Though he is not really a teacher(but his deceased wife was), Lazhar has the right stuff to be a good teacher. He cares about the students, and he likes to be with them while helping them. Maybe he lacks some professional knowledge for teaching a class, but he can manage the difficult situations in his classroom tactfully with common sense. What he says to his students at one fragile moment is the universal truth that can applied to any school on the earth; "A classroom is a home for.. it's a place of friendship, of work, and of courtesy. A place full of life – where you devote your life"It should be mentioned that the kids in the movies give the believable performance as a group under Falardeau's direction. Even you do not know all of their names, each of them is a distinctive part of the class, and, how they generate the mild but busy dynamics together under the cool gaze of the camera in their classroom is nothing less than natural.Two young performers are especially notable as the crucial supporting characters in the story. Sophie Nélisse is a smart little girl more outspoken about the incident affecting her and others than her classmates. She is curious about her substitute teacher who comes from the other country, and she comes to like him probably more than anyone else. She becomes his close ally when he attempts to deal with the grief problem of the class, and Nélisse and Émilien Néron, who is also good as an anguished boy hurt a lot by the incident and the following guilt resulting from it, have a calm but intense scene with quiet emotional power.

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Monsieur Lazhar is an elegantly crafted, patiently narrated & wonderfully performed cinema that brings on screen a bittersweet story of love, loss & grief shared between a teacher & his students. And while it may look like a cinema about teacher-pupil bonding, Monsieur Lazhar is much more than that.Set in Montreal, Monsieur Lazhar follows Bachir Lazhar; an Algerian immigrant who is hired to replace an elementary school teacher after she commits suicide in her classroom. While the cultural gap at first creates a barrier between the two, Lazhar is eventually able to earn the respect of his students while they recover from their recent loss but in the process, his own dark past is revealed.Directed by Philippe Falardeau, Monsieur Lazhar is told with great sensitivity & is beautifully composed from start to finish. The film does capture Lazhar's relationship with his students & faculty but what makes it such an endearing experience is the evident difference in two cultures, his struggle in adapting to school's educational reforms, the discussions he has with his pupils about tender issues & his own tragic loss.Cinematography makes brilliant use of the cold colour palette, the ambiance of a classroom is authentically captured, camera movements are very relaxed, Editing makes sure almost every scene contributes to the story in one way or another plus the whole picture is steadily paced, use of background score is minimal but effective whenever it makes its presence felt and the performance by every cast member is impressive.On an overall scale, Monsieur Lazhar is an heartwarming & heartbreaking cinema that offers a rare glimpse at the roles teachers are asked to play not only by the school system but the students' parents as well, and has a thing or two to say about the lies we tell our children. Boosted by great all-round performances, deepened by its rich cinematography yet feeling slightly incomplete by its lack of detail, Monsieur Lazhar is a work of surprising boldness & maturity that comes thoroughly recommended.

In Montreal, an Algerian immigrant (with his own tragic past) takes up the teaching post left vacant by a woman who hung herself in her classroom. Superb slice-of-life approach captures the place and the mood perfectly as we see how this new teacher helps the students through their varying degrees of trouble and heartache. Though mostly subtle, the film is not without some emotional powder-keg scenes, especially where a young boy finally breaks down in class and reveals his true emotions.Discerning viewers will find much to chew on as moments in the film are rendered both troubling and comforting while appealing all too closely to real life.Check out full reviews at theschleicherspin.com