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It takes skill to keep an emotionally charged account of children affected by the death of their elementary school teacher from becoming a syrupy and saccharin tale.  In the hands of a lesser-skilled writer-director the story of Monsieur Lazhar could have trickled into a film about how hugs make everything better and love transcends death.   Mercifully, writer-director Philippe Falardeau expertly balances the intricate delicacies of this emotionally powerful story.

Adapted from a one man play by Évelyne de la Chenelière, the understated Bachir Lazhar (Mohammed Fellag) is an Algerian immigrant in Montreal.  A decidedly simple and wholly identifiable story, Monsieur Lazhar presents himself at a school that has been the site of a shocking and almost-unspeakable act: the suicide of a young elementary school teacher.

At the centre of the suicide are two students, Alice (Sophie Nélisse) and Simon (Émilien Néron).  Through them the viewer is meant to identify with the complex range of feelings the students are dealing with in the wake of their teacher’s death.  Alice and Simon present two opposing journeys through this tragedy and act as catalysts for the understanding and maturing of the rest of the classroom in the wake of death.

Unprepared to discuss the suicide with the students, the school takes a by-the-books stance of hiring a psychiatrist to talk to the students about the abstract idea of “death” instead of broaching the subject on an individual and personal level.  Through M. Lazhar, an open dialogue begins as he begins to see a need for group catharsis on the matter of death, both for himself and his students.

Bachir Lazhar is going through his own poignant journey, complete with heavy personal baggage that is slowly revealed over the course of the film.  After fleeing conflict in his native Algeria, Lazhar is fighting for refugee status in Canada.   Much of the film’s story is balanced between his attempts at adapting to not only the role of a school teacher, but also to Canadian customs which still seem foreign to him after years of living in Quebec.

In Monsieur Lazhar, Falardeau (writer-director of It’s Not Me, I Swear!) manages to accomplish the impossible: make a film with very little action into a gripping, intense, and warm-hearted movie whose emotionally-charged events are hard to shake after leaving the theatre.  He tells the very plausible tale of an immigrant without making any political statements or taking a hard-lined approach to the way we handle refugees in Canada.

The film squarely rests on the quietly powerful performance of Algerian actor Mohammed Fellag.  The subtle nuances of his performance are exquisite in the range of emotion he displays on his face through only the subtlest changes of expression.  He is entirely believable, as is the harried support staff at his school, including an exasperated administrator and a kind-hearted teacher who are each coming to terms with the death of their co-worker and friend.  The young children, and in particular Sophie Nélisse as Alice, are perfect.

In the end, Monsieur Lazhar is not about what a teacher can impart on his students, but about how we learn and support one another.

Nominated for Best Foreign language Film at this year’s Academy Awards, the film took home the prize for Best Canadian Feature at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.  Monsieur Lazhar opens at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, January 27^th.