Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
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hyped garbage
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
This tightly written gem manages to pack a powerful emotional punch, while avoiding clichés and "cheap shots" - no easy task in a film that examines the emotions of 11/12-year-old schoolchildren and their teachers.The acting is for the most part charmingly low-key, and the action minimal, leaving the viewer wanting more, right up to the calmly controlled yet emotional ending (no spoilers here!). The movie also raises some interesting (and highly topical) issues about physical contact with children in the classroom or at summer camp (hugging, patting on the back, applying sunscreen, wiping a bloody nose, etc.). While one minor character expresses the popular viewpoint, the film contains several key scenes designed to let viewers make up their own minds.Highly recommended - I rarely give anything 8 out of 10!
Monsieur Lazhar follows a growing trend in Quebecois films getting more recognition at the Oscars, either nominated or making a shortlist, with Denys Arcand scoring a win. Monsieur Lazhar's nomination followed Incendies' the previous year, but I didn't think Monsieur Lazhar was as powerful as Incendies, and despite being Canadian, agree with the Academy's decision to hand the 2011 Foreign Language Oscar to Iran's A Separation instead.The premise of the movie sounds vaguely familiar- a new teacher steps into a school with students from another world, and inspires them. In this case, Lazhar is an Algerian refugee who teaches at a Quebecois school after a teacher hangs herself there, and must help the students cope. The students soon do well in spite of Lazhar's high expectations.The movie is slightly underdeveloped in explaining how Lazhar achieves his breakthrough in teaching the students, a little more puzzling considering he's not even a real teacher- his late wife in Algeria was. On that subject, I wasn't all that sympathetic to him for lying about those credentials, nor for slapping a student's head or acting insensitive about the deceased teacher from time to time (although we know very little about her, it's far likelier she was in a poor state of mental health rather than actively trying to harm the students).That said, Monsieur Lazhar is by no stretch of the imagination a bad movie, at times being spot on in its emotion. It just turns out that A Separation and Incendies brought out more powerful emotions.
This film is about a substitute teacher who fills in after a class teacher hanged herself inside the classroom."Monsieur Lazhar" tells how people in the school cope after a tragedy. The children react in different ways, some leave the school, some talk about it and some act out. It is a challenge for Mr Lazhar, who has a traumatic past but he does not show this aspect of him in the classroom. Mr Lazhar's tragedy is brutal and spine chilling. However, the irony is that his tragedy is so understated in the film, that it almost appears that his traumatic past in Algeria is insignificant in a suburban Canadian community. Maybe this is to highlight different people have different perspectives and different problems to worry about.
about small things. show of nuances. and lesson. about height of pain. about state of stranger in a strange country or situation. touching, subtle, profound. extremely delicate. picture of a world and discuss about values. a velvet and silk story. about rules of society. about cold rules and warm feelings. about fear, force of memories and limits. about circle of gestures facts. about solitude and fragility. or, only, a good script and a remarkable performance of each actor. a special event. and window to a form of salt happiness. must see it ! because a review is not enough to describe the flavor, wonderful flavor of this trip in the essence of fight against yourself.