Touching and fabulous, this opens in a Montreal schoolyard with 6th graders Alice & Simon gently flirting. Then Simon discovers his teacher has hanged herself in the homeroom. Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant, takes her job and mysteries unravel. The children, Sophie Nélisse (a Drew Barrymore lookalike) and Émilien Néron, as well as many of their classmates, are terrific and most are making their debutshere. Lazhar is played by an Algerian comedian named Mohamed Fellag (although the credits say only Fellag) who plays it entirely straight.
This movie swept the Genie Awards (Canadian Oscars) with six awards: Best Picture, Directing (Philippe Falardeau--new to me), Adapted Screenplay (Falardeau), Leading Actor (Fellag), Supporting Actress (Nélisse), and Editing, and it was nominated for our Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film but lost to A Separation.
The music, by Martin Léon (composed for one documentary before this), is quite pretty, mostly piano, but hasn't been released. One track is available at various links on youtube and you can hear it here by clicking the arrow next to "01."
Uplifting, despite the tragedies, this is well worth your time. Make time to see it. Oh, and rottentomatoes critics rate it 97% and users 91%, among the best on the site.
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