Not unlike A Separation, this year’s winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, Footnote is a movie made in the Middle Eastern whose story and characters will appeal to audiences from any region. Produced in Israel and a Best Foreign Film nominee, Footnote is a moving character study that places ordinary people in unprecedented circumstances.

The film puts Uriel Shkolnik (Lior Ashkenazi) in a tricky predicament. A well-known and respected professor of Talmudic studies, Uriel is first elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences, then named a recipient of the prestigious yearly Israel Prize for his studies. The problem is that Uriel’s father Eliezer (Shlomo Bar-Aba), also a professor of the Talmud and of course with the same last name, is the one to receive the congratulatory call on winning the Israel Prize. A sour old man with a vacant stare, Eliezer is the type of guy who prizes a footnote dedicated to him in a book by a fellow scholar over the success of his son. Feeling unfulfilled with his own life and jealous of Uriel’s, he can’t so much as even appreciate his son’s accomplishments.

Uriel, being the decent man that he is, acknowledges that making his father aware of the mishap would effectively kill his spirit along with what little relationship they have left. (We are told that Eliezer has applied for the award for several years and failed to win, so his son prevailing would lead to even more resentment.) He presents this line of thinking to the Israel Prize committee, all of whom struggle to accept that correcting their mistake would just cause more damage. They leave it Uriel’s problem to fix.

Footnote ends up being a sincere study of two characters, one more likeable than the other, and their non-relationship with each other. Though they have distinct differences, it becomes increasingly apparent that father and son also share qualities, for better or worse. Both brilliant scholars, Uriel and Eliezer are to varying degrees (father being the more severe case) distant to their wives (Alisa Rosen and Alma Zach, respectively), harsh toward their sons, and selfish in how they value the Israel Prize. As the pressure weighs on Uriel, the lingering musical score matching the anxiety he feels, and we observe him becoming more like his father. He seems to have moments of realizing this too, though whether or not he can control it is questionable.

The dialogue and acting are superb, especially the savory good scenes between Uriel and Professor Grossman (Micah Lewensohn), head of the Israel Prize committee and a rival scholar of Eliezer. Uriel, considered too cowardly for confrontation by his wife, displays the contrary when he accuses Grossman in front of the committee of biased voting on the award. The two’s dialogue throughout the film becomes a running battle of morals and ethics, with an importance that goes beyond just trying to preserve the award’s integrity.

Writer/director Joseph Cedar does, however, falter (even if it’s only slightly) when trying to intersperse a few playful cutaway scenes to give background information on Footnote’s main characters. Though well done, these would be better suited in a dramedy. There are humorous moments to be found in Footnote, but overall it stands on its own as tense drama, and Cedar could have more fully committed to that.

Engrossing, straightforward and wise, Footnote is one of the best films I have seen this year — and I am fortunate enough to have already seen a few excellent ones. I left the theater having felt like I was just part of an experience rather than sitting through a movie.