Footnote (Hearat Shulayim) 2011

Great portrayal of academia

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"Footnote" - a story of academic rivalry both within a family and within the profession. The main protagonists are father and son professors who work in the same narrow field of Talmud studies. The father worked for 30 years on a very obscure project and his entire research output was overtaken by a single event a few months before he could publish his results; his only claim to fame is a footnote in a work by a famous professor who mentored him when he was a student. The son takes a populist approach to the same area of study and has published many books.
At the beginning of the film, we see the son being inducted into the Israel Academy of Sciences much to his father's chagrin. The key drama, however, surrounds a mistake made by a ministerial flunkey who has the Minister of Education mistakenly call the father to advise him he has won the prestigious Israel Prize (after more than 20 years of trying for it). The MInister should, of course, have rung the son.
It is all down hill from here! Some great scenes involving academics, especially for Frosty and me who worked for many years in universities.
Thoroughly enjoyable. 5 of us saw the movie. 3.5 stars.