How do you dramatize the life of a professor? And why would you want to? Don’t they just write, teach, and grade papers? How do you make that interesting? Most films that deal with academic life focus primarily on students, and with good reason: they tend to lead more interesting lives. They party, they do sports, they get in trouble, they have crazy relationships and friendships. Animal House is perhaps the most famous embodiment of the college movie.
But professors? What could be interesting about their lives? Wonder Boys is a wonderful exception to the expectation that a movie about professors would be boring (and it lives up to the great book it is based on). Certain scenes in other movies pop out, one of my favorites being Dustin Hoffman’s role as a coffee-obsessed professor in Stranger Than Fiction. The Coen Brothers produced an odd, but beautiful, film about a Jewish professor in their retelling of the story of Job in A Serious Man. The Visitor is an equally sedate, but moving, story of a professor finding his way in the world. There are other examples, but you get the idea.
With a title like “Footnote” it might sound like an academic treatise, not a film rife with conflict and dramatic tension. The film takes place at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. There are two protagonists, both professors, both by the name Shkolnik. A mistake is made by the Ministry of Education when they notify the wrong Professor Shkolnik about winning the Israel Prize for Talmudic Studies. This mistakes reveals a host of problems and family dynamics.
The film causes you to consider one set of ethical questions after another. What is the right decision when faced with a true dilemma (where there is no perfect solution)? Given its setting--not just that it is about Biblical scholars, but is set in Israel--one can see the biblical overtones. Is this movie about the fifth commandment, that one should honor his mother and father? Is a twist on the story of Jacob and Esau?
There are lots of other themes to consider. What are the duties of a father to his son and a son to his father? What are our ethical duties to our rivals? Are any secrets worth keeping? The movie is about the very language we use day in and day out. What does this language mean? How do we use it? What is the role of memory? And how does language--and the way we archive our stories--affect our memories?
There are subtle critiques of academic life. Why do we do research? Teach? What value do these activities add to society? To the lives of the academics? In some of the films more humorous moments, it pokes fun at academics (and we certainly know that academics are highly pokeable).
You may have noticed that I haven’t revealed much of the plot. True. That’s because I want you to come see it with me and then discuss it at a coffee shop afterwards. One of my favorite things to do is to watch a film like this and then debate everything about it--meanings, techniques, characters. How often is a movie like this--about professors that takes place in an international setting and is replete with ethical quandaries to chew on--playing across the street from your office, especially for a guy like me who loves this kind of film?
There are lots of other themes to consider. What are the duties of a father to his son and a son to his father? What are our ethical duties to our rivals? Are any secrets worth keeping? The movie is about the very language we use day in and day out. What does this language mean? How do we use it? What is the role of memory? And how does language--and the way we archive our stories--affect our memories?
There are subtle critiques of academic life. Why do we do research? Teach? What value do these activities add to society? To the lives of the academics? In some of the films more humorous moments, it pokes fun at academics (and we certainly know that academics are highly pokeable).
You may have noticed that I haven’t revealed much of the plot. True. That’s because I want you to come see it with me and then discuss it at a coffee shop afterwards. One of my favorite things to do is to watch a film like this and then debate everything about it--meanings, techniques, characters. How often is a movie like this--about professors that takes place in an international setting and is replete with ethical quandaries to chew on--playing across the street from your office, especially for a guy like me who loves this kind of film?
