Oscar-contending film shows special side of school teacher
Monsieur Lazhar — the Canadian film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture — is a quiet, carefully planned movie with a young cast that gives a simple story a special power.
After a teacher is found dead, hanging from a pipe in her grade school classroom, the school is tasked with helping the students understand and work through the sad situation. They also need a replacement teacher.
When Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) visits the school to apply for the position, the principal is initially reluctant. But teachers are hard to come by at the Montreal grade school, especially after the suicide, and Lazhar is given the unique challenge of taking over the class for the rest of the year. It is clear from the beginning the death has effected the students in ways the staff isn’t equipped to deal with. How can they teach the youngsters to overcome an issue if they aren’t willing to confront it themselves?
Lazhar has left his native Algeria to escape political persecution. He no longer has family and is fighting with the Canadian government to stay in the country. He is keen to help the students but lacks a grasp of the curriculum and the culture of the school. But Lazhar is kind and smart, eventually winning the affections of his fellow staff and his students.
In addition to the central character, the story also focuses on students Simon and Alice, a pair of friends who both see their teacher hanging in the classroom before teachers can usher them outside. Alice is a keen student, wise beyond her years, and forms a good relationship with Mr. Lazhar from the start. Simon is the troubled class clown, with issues that go far deeper than he lets on. The death creates a divide between the two children. Lazhar is the only person to recognize just how damaged they are by the suicide.
Without its incredible young cast, Monsieur Lazhar would be nearly as special a special film. But these child actors give wonderful, honest performances, as their characters come to terms with something wildly beyond their experiences.
The actors playing the students, particularly Emilien Neron in the role of Simon, find a surprising maturity in their roles but never lose the childlike quality necessary to make the movie believable. Fellag is good, too, in the role of Lazhar. His portrayal is subtle, which only adds to the film’s authenticity. The actor has great chemistry with the talented children playing his students.
Monsieur Lazhar is not overly sentimental, despite its subject matter, a smart choice by director Philippe Falardeau. A great deal of the emotion in the movie is under the surface, just like real life.
The straightforward story is simply filmed, but Fallardeau has created a rich world for the movie, set primarily at the Montreal elementary school. Characters, central and secondary alike, are given interesting elements of backstory that are so often missing — and missed — in other films. Moments of humour sneak their way in but don’t steal focus.
Falardeau’s choices appear deliberate, yet there is a spontaneous quality to the movie.