If you look at it that way, then you start thinking about the basic things, which are jobs not jails, and education not incarceration.

But the reality is that the police serve a certain function, to maintain a certain status quo, and that's one of the things that the movie is about, because it basically gives you three options for looking at the police, as symbolized by Dave Brown.

The damage that we do in the service of whatever motivates us in life has a direct effect, mostly on our kids.

I think everybody came into it with the understanding that they would go through an experience that is literally not by the book, that is not executing the script and then going home, but living and breathing these characters and being in the moment with each other, and improvising and creating a lot of present-tense intensity between characters.

All the scenes that have to do with the fact that, at the end of the day, we're all engaged - hopefully some of us - in certain causes and ideals and certain ways of living, but we're human, and we're making all these mistakes, and we're caught in particular systems - whatever it is - but ultimately, there's a price paid by the people that are closest to you.

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."

It's not a big secret that what's lacking and what's wrong in our society starts with education. It starts with the way people are brought up, and what is put into their heads and put into their minds as engaged citizens.