End Of Watch Characters

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I precisely chose End of Watch as a film to explore character development as it focuses on the lives of two police officers, Mike Zavala aka Z (played by Michael Peña) and Brian Taylor (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and ex-marine with a passion for filmmaking. In the first scene we are presented with a police chase, including a voice over from the protagonist Brian - “Behind my badge is a heart like yours, I bleed, I think, I love, and yes I can be killed, and although I am but one man, I have thousands of brothers and sisters who are the same as me, they will lay down their lives for me, and I them. We stand watch together, a thin blue line, protecting the prey from the predators, the good from the bad, we are the police.” This dialogue indicates…show more content…
(London, 1999, p.101) he discusses true character over characterization: TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure - the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature. Robert McKee expresses that the heart of the characters’ humanity will only be truly exposed to the viewers when under pressure, as it creates a panic which leads to personal instinct, revealing an unconditioned response that has had no prior thought. This can be applied 43 minutes into the film, when Brian spots a house fire and instantly reacts, contacting a fire brigade. A woman of 3 children runs out of her burning house shouting for help. Brian and Mike immediately react to the situation, running into the house. While their role as law enforcers’ end with contacting the fire brigade, their immediate response is to run into the burning building and risk their lives for young children with whom they have never met. After grabbing two infants, the mother shouts she is missing her two-year-old daughter. Mike (Z) runs straight back into the house without thinking, while Brian shouts “Shit no, Z, Z no c’mon!”. This reveals Brian’s instinctive response to think about the situation, or even wait for help for the two-year-old girl, instead of risking his life any further. However, Mike’s selfless reaction to save the infant

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