Wednesday March 26th 2014
Canada 2011  95 minutes
Director: Philippe Falardeau
Starring: Mohamed Said Fellag, Sophie Nelisse, Emilien Neron 

The tragic suicide of an elementary school teacher in Montreal is the starting point for this touching and thoughtful film. The school’s principal has to find a replacement teacher quickly for the disturbed class; in particular, two pupils, Simon and Alice, are traumatised by the event. Despite some reservations, she hires Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant. Although Lazhar’s teaching methods seem old-fashioned, he appears to be steering the class through a difficult year. But then questions about his past and his current status in Canada start to surface. Can the school- and its children- afford to lose their ‘Monsieur Lazhar’?