SnoopyStyle Eliezer Shkolnik and his son Urien are both Talmudic researchers and professors in Jerusalem. Eliezer is bitter as his son receives wide acclaim from the Jewish Studies community. He spent most of his life working on a revolutionary take on an European version of the Talmud only to be scooped by an accidental discovery one month before publishing his own work. He toiled in his work alone. His class has one student. His most noteworthy accomplishment is a footnote in an important textbook. The father and son relationship has traveled a long and problematic road. Eliezer covets the Israel Prize above all else and one day, he gets a calls from the Minister of Education congratulating him. It is big news and then Uriel is told by the Ministry that the call was a mistake and he is the real winner. The head of the committee Grossman is an old foe of Eliezer.This movie takes a small world and shows how the people in it treat this world as life and death. The opening sequence with Eliezer and the security guard is very compelling. Eliezer is a quietly bitter old man and that scene sets it all up. The problem is that he's not that charismatic as a character. Urien's struggles are more compelling. It's an intriguing premise but I don't find Eliezer lovable enough.

Dale Haufrect Joseph Cedar has written and directed a truly multifaceted film. "Footnote" is listed as a comedy, however, I found it to weigh more toward the dramatic side with a peppering of comedy that is well done and not overly utilized. The story is about a father and son who are prominent Talmudic scholars in Israel and who are competitive in the academic world where they both work. Shlomo Bar-Aba plays Eluezer Shkolnik the older of the two, and his performance is filled with struggle and empathy that pervades the film. The son is played by Lior Ashkenazi and he too provides a convincing portrayal as well. The family relationships are weighed heavily and transcend the entire movie which takes place in Academia. The film is rich in tradition, and the music complements it with great synchrony. The ending is abrupt, and it encourages some extra time thinking about the content. However, it also induces satisfaction in knowing that the cultural display of relationships and social intercourse are well documented on the screen. Some of the film dealing with comedy is not a belly splitter, but it is way of lightening the mood, and noted to be a well recognized mechanism of writing even in Shakespeare's writings. Although the relationship of the father and son is a strained one throughout the film, it also is a transcultural one that exudes with emotion and intellectual curiosity. This film is well worth a trip to the cinema or one can just wait for the Blu Ray DVD to be available.

georgep53 Eliezer Shkolnik is seated at a ceremony honoring his son Uriel Shkolnik's admission to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities an honor that has never been accorded to him. He appears uncomfortable barely forcing himself to rise to his feet in perfunctory applause before quickly sitting down. Hence begins "Footnote" the brilliant Israeli 2011 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Both Shkolniks are Talmudic researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem but that is where the similarity ends. Eliezer is an obstinate traditionalist and loner who rejects new ideas and the establishment that embraces them. As a result he is relegated to obscurity by his colleagues who deny him any recognition beyond the dusty footnote he received in the book of an old revered scholar. Uriel on the other hand is popular and adopts the changes his father despises. One day Eliezer receives a phone call informing him that he is the recipient of the Israel Prize. What he doesn't know is that the call is a mistake. It is his son Uriel who is the intended recipient. The roles of father and son are beautifully played by Shlomo Bar-Aba and Lior Ashkenazi respectively. Micah Lewensohn is excellent in a supporting role as a rival of Eliezer's who refuses to relent in his dislike of his old academic adversary. The screenplay by director Joseph Cedar was inspired by a real life incident in which he received a phone call notifying him of an award he suspected was really intended for his father. Anyone interested in something fresh at the movies should find this film compelling and thought provoking. "Footnote" asks us how much does a father owe a son and vice versa. It also asks us to think about the different ways we have of arriving at the truth and how much we're willing to sacrifice for it.

Hilbrand Bos This is a very good movie, but it could be better. The feel of the whole story very much reminded me of the Coen Brothers movie 'a serious man'. It has the same sense of general awkwardness in its characters. The story is very well told. It has a chapter structure and the parts of father and son have kind of symmetry to it, resulting in a feeling of bittersweet irony. If you like irony in all its layers and subtleties, then this is definitely something to watch. The one thing that could make this movie better in my opinion, is the climax that the whole movie is building up to, but which is left to your imagination. In my taste a little too much so, but decide for yourself!