Footnote – Hearat Shulayim (2011)

Directed by: Joseph Cedar | 103 minutes | drama | Actors: Lior Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar-Aba, Yuval Scharf, Aliza Rosen, Albert Iluz, Neli Tagar, Alma Zack, Shmuel Shiloh, Nevo Kimchi, Micah Lewensohn, Michael Koresh, Idit Teperson, Jackey Levi, Daniel Markovich, Nina Traub, Jonnie Shualy, Daria Robichek

‘Footnote’ was one of this year’s nominees for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film) and the film won the 2011 Cannes screenplay prize. Still, a little fumbling in the press kit in the serious first minutes of the film, in which only a tragicomic confrontation between the grumpy academic Eliezer Shkolnik and a security guard brings some relief. Israeli culture is a bit further from ours than we thought. After forty minutes the film gets going, in the form of a trivial coincidence that screenwriter and director Joseph Cedar refuses to mention in the press kit interview because of fear of spoilers.

We do, because it is the engine of developments. Uriel Shkolnik is confronted by the jury of The Israel Prize with the fact that the prestigious prize was accidentally awarded not to him, but to father and fellow philologist Eliezer. What to do now? Uriel does not want to let the family relationships (further) be influenced by the coming out of this mistake, and pleads with the jury for the prize to be awarded to his – misunderstood – father, much to the contempt of jury chairman Grossman. The latter eventually agrees to Uriel’s generous solution, provided that he writes the letter of recommendation and never wishes to be considered for the prize again.

It is a dilemma like in a Greek tragedy, which the successful Uriel initially picks up with conviction, rather than the betrayal perhaps hoped by Grossman. Eliezer and Grossman are old enemies. An intriguing sequel, in which Uriel works on the recommendations while in other scenes the father is interviewed about the award, debunking the son’s work, builds tension. Uriel feels the negative aspects of his relationship with his father – and with his own adolescent son – continue to grow as the writing progresses as The Israel Prize is presented.

We’re not giving away more than that the dramatic settlement is somewhat hyped centered around Eliezer’s psychological state. That keeps the momentum in the well-constructed film, but it detracts from the depth. For example, regarding the raised moral issues about trust between people, which are now lingering in subtle images. They convince, but true catharsis is not forthcoming. The acting performances of the three protagonists are nevertheless worth mentioning. Shlomo Bar Aba (Eliezer), Lior Ashkenazi (Uriel) and Micah Lewensohn (Grossman) were nominated for an international acting award.