Mortimer Griffin and Shalinsky

Mortimer Griffin and Shalinsky
Directed by Mort Ransen
Written by Mort Ransen and Mordecai Richler
Release dates
  • 1985 (1985)
Running time
 24 minutes
Country Canada
Language English

Mortimer Griffin and Shalinsky is a 1985 short film written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Mordecai Richler about an eccentric Jewish intellectual that accuses his teacher of hiding his Jewish identity. The film is based on Richler's 1978 short story, "Mortimer Griffin, Shalinsky and How they Settled the Jewish Question".

Summary

Shalinsky, a Jewish university student, is convinced that his non-Jewish professor Mortimer Griffin is guilty of changing his name, suspecting the instructor of hiding his Jewish identity.

After listening attentively to Griffin’s analysis of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, all the other students file out of the classroom, but Shalinsky lingers to compliment his teacher. After offering words of praise, between puffs of his cigarette, he asks pointedly, “Why did you change your name? You’re a Jew.”

Of course, Griffin is not Jewish and he tells Shalinsky this fact. Griffin is amused at first, and tells his Jewish friends about the incident. However, Shalinsky persists, and simply won't accept that Griffin is not Jewish. Eventually, Griffin gets more and more irritated by Shalinsky's refusal to accept the truth. Finally, irritation gives way to anger and Griffin blurts out comments that sound anti-Semitic. Griffin has a nervous breakdown.

In the satirical aftermath, we learn that Griffin has converted to Judaism and become religious.

References

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