A movie starts with a “premise”, or a scenario. A background, a place, a point, or a moment where something important has happened. A story develops around that premise, giving it a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. But events and scenery are just complimentary as people watch other people and react to them, not things. Stories are always told through the eyes of characters, and what they teach us. The best films ask us all “What if?”
A story that weaved itself
“Michael’s Resignation” was a story that developed around the “credit crunch” because of the building worry, despair and frustration of such a difficult time. HBOS (Halifax/Bank of Scotland) in the UK had all but collapsed overnight due to the fear of investors, despite advertising it’s incredibly secure position and healthy balance sheet. Suddenly it was all out on the table; nothing was safe. If that could happen to them, it could happen to absolutely anyone. The atmosphere in that office can’t have been good.
The film is based around a central character (Michael) who could well have been there that morning, only he has a particular background and a set of qualities that make him prone to reacting more extremely than anyone could ever imagine. The madness of his explosion has been lying there dormant for a long time. Someone rightly suggested “What we all want to do” as the title as Michael represents all of us in our darkest moments. He does what we’ve all seen and felt when the world collapses into chaos around us. When you take away someone’s sense of meaning, they react violently.
A mystery that just keeps on deepening
Our character is not only resigning from his job, he’s resigning from absolutely everything he has ever believed in. In essence, he is resigning from life itself with his job only the symbolic part. He is expressing all of our frustration for us cathartically in true fantasy style. To those who say they find violence distasteful, we say that violence is a part of everyday life. This has happened, and can happen. It’s what happens to people when you put them under terrible stress and pull their security from underneath them. It’s simply one end of the human emotional spectrum.
But in the midst of his breakdown and the tragedy, there is hope. None of it was inevitable, as the answers were all there. What started off as snowballs turned into a landslide, and a crazy act of vengeance quickly crashes out of control to almost “accidentally” become an eventual massacre.
You already know what’s coming
There have been concerns about releasing so much of the story and script, as no-one likes to know what’s going to happen. But Michael is not a mystery – our film is more like a porn movie in that you know what is going to happen, but are there for the money shot. And the anticipation is the beautiful core of all drama.
