Monsieur Lazhar

Just when I thought there was no way to make the “charismatic-teacher-inspires-his-students" genre fresh, involving and… well… inspirational, along comes this wonderful movie from Montreal about an Algerian man who replaces a primary school teacher after she commits suicide.  It is a post-tragedy film about an honorable if not entirely honest person, and the fact that the titular protagonist is an immigrant supplies a layer of complexity often lacking in this type of movie. The film uplifts without being cloying and it more than earns any moments of sentimentality by treating all its characters, both young and old, as individuals rather the “types-of-people.” There is a rich depth to this warm and engrossing film, which left me thinking about a wide range of cultural issues beyond the importance of good teachers.