Monsieur Lazhar is a 2011 Canadian French
language drama film. It was directed by Philippe Falardeau and the story was
developed by Evelyne de la Cheneliere. It starred Mohamed Fellag as Monsieur
Lazhar, the lead role. It was Canada’s official entry to the 84th
Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011 but lost to Iran’s “A
Separation.”
Plot. The film is the story of Bashir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant to
Canada who became a schoolteacher for a short while.
Watch Movie Trailer
The movie opens with a scene in an elementary
school in Montreal, Canada. A teacher has just hanged herself on her classroom.
The incident sends a great trauma to the students who experience nightmares
during the night. Later, Bashir Lazhar applies for the vacant job and is then
quickly hired. Unknown to everybody, Lazhar is also recovering from a personal
tragedy.
In the beginning, Lazhar struggles with his
work as cultural gap is quite evident and the school system’s constraints are
different from those where he came from. Soon, the children learn to come to
grips with their former teacher’s suicide and Monsieur Lazhar finally captures
their heart and of his fellow teachers. Yet, Lazhar’s painful past remains
hidden, as well as his status as refugee. His wife, a teacher and a writer,
dies along with their son and daughter in an arson attack back in Algeria. The
arson was caused by some people who were angered by Lazhar’s wife’s book about
the country’s social and economic struggles.
Watch Movie Trailer
In the end, Lazhar’s fugitive status
becomes known as he has a heart-breaking encounter with one of his students. It
is further revealed that he was not a schoolteacher in Algeria, but a
restaurant owner. Consequently, his job is taken and after story-telling
activity with his students, he leaves his class and the school.
