Doing right by kids is difficult business as most parents and other adults know. Best intentions only go so far. We bring our baggage and biases into what are able to do for them. Monsieur Lazhar plays out this idea in the context of a group of young kids forced to confront the suicide of their teacher in their classroom. 

The adults in the the mix have different ideas of what this trauma means for the kids and how they should be supported. Avoidance and re-direction seem to be the preferred way of the school administration because doing more requires alignment with parents which is hard to come by. The lowest common denominator support in crisis does not help the kids. 

Lazhar is the replacement teacher - a refugee from Algeria and is dealing with the loss of loved ones himself. Much of what he attempts to do to help the children is driven by his own need for closure. He is well-intentioned but ends up stirring more emotions among the students than the system is equipped to handle. The chaos is curbed in the end. A beautiful movie with a strong storyline and believable set of characters.