I think that's an incredibly overwhelming reality that is really at the basis of how we're going to deal with this. Looking at the film, people will say, "Oh yeah, you're criticizing the police." I say, "No."
Oren MovermanThat's really the big inspiration of this movie. It's really looking at a man who's really showing all the traits and all the characteristics of the classic patriarchal country, where he's of military power, he's the king of the hill at home, as well as in the streets. He has the liberty to live where he wants.
Oren MovermanI really feel that actors should really know who they are as characters; they should really study their lines; they should be prepared; but once they come to set, for me the most exciting way to shoot a scene is to really find it, really kind of grind your way through it, until you feel like you have something that you can put together.
Oren MovermanAnother option, which I think is the thing that makes more sense, is this fact that the police are a reflection of the occupation of certain neighborhoods and certain parts of cities that are designed, basically, to keep the bottom down and basically maintain the status quo, but out of sight, so that the other side - the people in power, the people with money, the people with comfort, the people that are living in the "safer" areas - are sure that they can sleep safely in their bed while bad thing are happening to people and it's not their problem.
Oren MovermanThere's no solutions to prevent corruption because it's the same thing as putting soldiers in an occupation in a foreign territory - there's too much that's gonna go wrong. There's too much human behavior that's going to get in the way. So you're gonna have to start thinking about it in a different direction, and the different direction is: what is wrong with society?
Oren MovermanAnd with the Occupy Movement, it's really ironic how the police come as representatives and enforcers of the powers that be, even though the people in the Occupy Movement are really on their side - not in terms of their behavior, but in terms of their economic status, in terms of who the police are in society and how much they're paid, and if you boil it down to the economics of it, the police should be out there marching with the Occupy Movement.
Oren Moverman