February 16, 2012 Movies » Movie Reviews

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Gorgeous, sad drama Monsieur Lazhar 

Quebec film articulates grief and immigrant experience

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click to enlarge monsieur-lazhar.jpg
Quebec filmmaker Philippe Falardeau weaves a sad, gorgeous commentary on grief, immigrant struggle and educational bureaucracy in Monsieur Lazhar, an adaptation of a one-man stage play. Having escaped persecution in Algeria, the title character (Fellag) takes charge of a Montreal classroom where the previous teacher took her own life, a suicide that’s left the pre-teen students in varying degrees of shock. Lazhar has the unenviable task of managing the children’s feelings and mastering the North American curriculum and culture, while simultaneously navigating Canada’s refugee system and mourning his own family. Falardeau gets fantastic work from Fellag, who invests Lazhar with unwavering dignity even as the character grapples with roiling emotions, and the young children, who prove to be less hysterical than their adult minders in the wake of tragedy.

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  • Quebec film articulates grief and immigrant experience

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Monsieur Lazhar
94 min. | Rated PG-13 (MPAA)
Official Site: www.monsieurlazharmovie.com
Director: Philippe Falardeau
Writer: Philippe Falardeau
Cast: Marie-Ève Beauregard, Seddik Benslimane, Louis Champagne, Marie Charlebois, Nathalie Costa, Evelyne de la Chenelière, Stéphane Demers, Monhamed Fellag, Daniel Gadouas and Nicole-Sylvie Lagarde

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