In the films opening we see the son accepting the prestigious Israel prize...
On the first viewing, I had the same misunderstanding that the first ceremony was for the Israel Prize (rather than the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities). I even tried to concoct some complex scheme of flashbacks that would make it work.
On second viewing it was quite clear though that ceremony was something different, and the film was in strict chronological order. What I got then was that a) the son likes getting lots of awards, and b) the father thinks his son is too award-concious.
...The blue plastic bracelet was not any indicator of status, but just a method of maintaining security (Eliezer hadn't received one, presumably because of some oversight).
It's a common part of autism to be hyper-sensitive to clothing that feels rough and to unfamiliar clothing. You've probably heard stories of mothers ripping all the tags out of all the clothing of their autistic offspring. So once the suggestion Eliezer's peronality was partly due to autism was available, the idea of him absent-mindedly being annoyed by his wrist strap and ripping it off seemed quite normal.
Maybe Eliezer didn't even clearly remember exactly what he had done. When he got home he tried to "fix" his watchband ...but it didn't appear to be broken. It's possible all he remembered was some sense that _something_ that went around his wrist hadn't been quite right.
(There were other suggestions of autistic behavior in that first setting: him standing up after everyone else and sitting down before everyone else, his purposeful straight walk from the outside door clear to the bench on the other side of the patio, his being completely alone all the time, his complete focus on a stranger's conversation that was almost out of earshot, his at-first-puzzled then-quite-indignant response to being questioned by the security guard, and his bewilderment at his son's schmoozing.)
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barefootskier
11 years ago
Chuckman, I have read your multiple posts on this board pressing the autism angle... and I can't believe you conclude what you do about Ezriel being autistic
Uriel's wife screamed it at him as an insult. She just as well could have screamed "Tell your OCD dad.." or "Tell your insane dad..." And if either of those two words were used, they would not imply some "key" to Ezriels behavior... he is not OCD or insane. And he is not Autistic, rather the woman was just angry at her husband for taking out his frustration on Yosh.
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ranran-001
11 years ago
Agree, the word "autistic" was by no means a medical diagnosis. I would even think that the use of the word was offensive, the wife used it flippantly in much the same way the word "retard" is used to insult someone's intelligence.
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