There are no flashy, over-done moments in "Monsieur Lazhar"--it is a sublimely human drama, more like a character study than a feature film.
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. While helping his students deal with their grief, his own recent loss is revealed. He is brilliantly played by Mohamed Fellag, who does a quiet and low key character, but with a lot of depth and feeling.
Monsieur Lazhar, whose first name Bachir means bearer of good news and last name Lazhar means lucky, is recovering from his own loss, the death of his wife and children; and he relishes being in the classroom and raises the standards in there, returning the desks to straight rows rather than Martine’s communal semi-circle, and presenting more demanding material, genuine literary work—that of Balzac.
Using great sensitivity and humor, Philippe Falardeau follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.Montréal public grade school teacher Martine Lachance has just committed suicide by hanging in her classroom. At times happy, sad and overall an experience that I would certainly recommend. One of 2011's best films.An advertising executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are father and son as well as rival professors in Talmudic Studies. The film is about an immigrant from Algeria named Bachir Lazhar, who applies for a job at the local elementary school when there is a position open.
I liked that this film took chances with what it talked about and showed us and ends up turning out to be quite relevant and relatable. The film plays everything quite quiet and low key, but the emotion we get out of the actors, and from the great script and direction is priceless. Truth be told, for what it is (a melodramatic half-comedy about a well-intentioned teacher who just, like really wants to help the kids, but in the end finds that they help him just as much), Monsieur Lazhar works awfully well, managing to be sweet and distinctly easy without feeling the need to talk down to the viewer at the same time. Vaillancourt, the school's principal, has a difficult time finding a replacement teacher because of the gruesome nature of the death, which is why she hires Algerian immigrant, Bachir Lazhar, despite her reservations in doing so.
At a Montréal public grade school, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace a popular teacher who committed suicide in her classroom. The simplicity of the film makes it all the more heart-breakingly beautiful. Adapted from Evelyne de la Cheneliere's play, Bachir Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. This is a film just as much about death and how it not only affects children, but everyone else as well. For one thing everything in this Montreal town in Quebec, is very foreign to Bachir, but he has a lot of self esteem and determination to set out and do his best for not only himself, but his students as well. One of her pupils, Simon, is the one that finds her, although another of her students, Alice, also ends up seeing the hanging dead body. While the class goes through a long healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful former life; nor that he is at risk of being deported at any moment.
Over the years there have been many films made about inspirational teachers who win over classrooms of at once reluctant, or delinquent students only to have a big happy ending at the end. Directed by Philippe Falardeau. In reality, he is going through the refugee claimant process to stay in Canada, that process which includes digging up the painful reason for leaving Algeria without his wife and two children. I liked this film because I think so many people will be able to relate and connect to it on several different levels, but we are also given a tremendous piece of entertainment to go along with it.
Beyond the provision of grief counseling, Mme. Montréal public grade school teacher Martine Lachance has just committed suicide by hanging in her classroom. Some of those type of films have worked in the past and some have not. Putting those differences beside, Bachir tries to move on and be the best teacher that he can and soon he starts to warm up to the children in his class and he seems to get through to several of them as well and they start to really like him. Lazhar goes through a steep learning curve in teaching his class of eleven and twelve year olds, his style and methods which resemble old school teaching, such as hitting the students as discipline and using antiquated teaching terminology. Bachir, himself is also a very interesting character with kind eyes and a warm smile and I really got to like him and his character throughout the movie. With Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx. In dealing with the children he has a calm and very likable quality to him when he is teaching them. I felt extremely moved by the end of this film and felt that I got to know these characters and share their grief, heartaches and also loves and happiness.