Education is a hot topic both in the DR and in North America. Our film club (Meeting Place, calle #60 Juan Bosch, Puerto Plata) is pleased to present the Oscar nominated film Monsieur Lazar on Saturday Feb 16 at 1:30 pm (This Canadian film was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film, picked up six (Canadian Oscars), including best picture, director, adapted screenplay and actor. ? yes, we will be showing the English language subtitle version! ?A rare treat to see a film that is unlikely to show up on TV!! this takes place in the middle of the chaos of an inner city school in which enters the soft spoken with old-world formality Monsieur Bachir Lazhar, a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant. Sensitive, dramatic with sometimes comic overtones this film lets us see, as the New York Times Review says, ?the exquisite balance between grown-up and child?s-eye views of education, teacher-student relations and peer-group interactions. ? conveys the intensity and the fragility of these classroom bonds and the mutual trust they require. It calls into question the strict modern rules that forbid any physical contact between teachers and students who in moments of crisis feel a desperate need for the comfort and reassurance that a hug can provide. .....Without pushing the parallels, the story obliquely connects Bachir?s own personal calamity that had forced him to leave Algeria with his empathy for the children. Don?t try to find a meaning in Martine?s death; there isn?t one,? this flawed hero declares. ?A classroom is a place of friendship, of work, of courtesy, a place of life.?
A terrific story that leaves much to think and talk about.
(Discussions and film presentations are free but we suggest that non-Meeting Place Members (see website) contribute 100 pesos toward defraying expenses for electricity and such. The Meeting Place is a strictly volunteer-run non-commercial organization))
A terrific story that leaves much to think and talk about.
(Discussions and film presentations are free but we suggest that non-Meeting Place Members (see website) contribute 100 pesos toward defraying expenses for electricity and such. The Meeting Place is a strictly volunteer-run non-commercial organization))