MovieChat Forums > Hearat Shulayim (2011) Discussion > How much of this is about autism?

How much of this is about autism?

posted 12 years ago by chuck-526
4 replies | jump to latest

Eliezer's behavior throughout could be explained as his being an overly-pedantic highly-individualistic sour old man.

It could ALSO be explained as his being on the autism spectrum.

(For example, a possible subtext was that Grossman was personally "uncomfortable" with Eliezer's personality [which typical of autism would have been even stranger when Eliezer was younger]. Uriel at one point explicitly states his father is "weird". And it's implied that Grossman finds Eliezer's scholarly contributions --even in the world of Talmudic scholarship-- to be so picayune they're not useful.)

In either case, how could he have such a seemingly comfortable relationship with the "mystery woman" when he couldn't relate to anyone else very well?

And more importantly, do you think autism caused sourness (or sourness caused autism)?

[–] hilaryjrp 12 years ago

Interesting question. I have met so many men in academic roles who could be substituted for Eliezer. To answer your question, I think that autism does not excuse immorality.

[–] chuck-526 8 years ago

...autism does not excuse immorality...

Potentially a very interesting topic ...but just to be clear it's most definitely not the question I asked.

[–] Jael_1 12 years ago

I think it's about family responsibilities, the duty to honor thy father, to be a good father to one's own kids, the struggle not to pass on "the sins of the fathers" to the next generation. Autism helps lend concrete particularity to general themes, but I do wonder if it also distracted too much from the main story line. I'll have to watch it again sometime to make up my mind.

[–] CoSMiGoNoN 8 years ago

Nothing.