Monsieur Lazhar: the ideal immigrant in the neoliberal Quebecois imagination

The ability of Canadian films to bring the immigrant experience to the centre of public debate is certainly impressive. Monsieur Lazhar (2011) depicts the life of one such immigrant without the blemishes of Hollywood's essentialist tropes. The film tells the story of an Algerian exile who physically escapes the violence of civil war in his native land, only to find himself trapped in a new psychological battle zone of a Quebec community torn apart by suicide and grief. As a substitute teacher, he ultimately becomes the surrogate cultural guardian and saviour of a cadre of Canadian children. This critique will examine the humanism of lead character Bachir Lazhar, his transformation from a French-speaking Algerian to a displaced francophone exile, and the characteristics that make him an admired and welcomed immigrant by francophone Canadians. Analysed within the context of postcolonial theory and identity politics, this article will expose the collapsing categories of identification which mandate that his valour and magnanimity depend upon negating his own Algerian cultural identity. In short, the more Bachir Lazhar is 'fetishized', in other words viewed within the narrow confines of cultural fetishism (ethnic food, tea-drinking habit, and belly dancing), the easier it becomes for the Canadian viewer to embrace him.