Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau, 2011)

An Algerian asylum seeker in Montreal, following the death of his wife, takes up as job as a schoolteacher for a class whose teacher has recently hanged herself. These are not the stock ingredients of uplifting cinema, but the story meanders slowly and sensitively as Lazhar and the children alike try to get used to each other and come to terms with their respective losses. Also importantly, the children are not sentimentalised, but allowed fully rounded personalities, backed by mature performances from the principal ones.
This was Canada's entry for the 2012 Foreign Language Oscar: one can't help feeling an extra layer of schmaltz would have got it past the finishing post first.

7/10