How Long Can An Individual Sustain Hatred?

I have always been fascinated by the way we look at strangers, how effortlessly we construct an individual using only the few details we see. I also find it compelling that a single moment of chance can suddenly make that stranger the most effectual force in a person's life.

For years I have watched the late-night news and seen a familiar story: A mother (usually on her way into the courthouse) is stopped by an interviewer. She is there to witness the trial of a man that has killed her son or daughter. Almost invariably, she stares down the barrel of the camera lens saying with immovable determination, "I will not rest until that monster gets the chair." Of course there is a long road that follows; years pass before the criminal is actually sentenced to death. But it is those years of hatred and revenge that I find perplexing. How long can an individual sustain that kind of hatred? Are there two deaths now to the same crime?

In Take, I wanted to explore how far the heart could go with this kind of resentment before it would fold in on itself. I wanted to examine the idea of forgiveness as a mechanism of survival - having nothing to do with whether someone deserves it and everything to do with our own need to forgive.

The greatest challenge of this film was creating four distinct worlds: one for each character's past and present. I wanted to have a different visual language for each of them, yet make them feel connected on a visceral level. Much of pre-production was spent creating these worlds with my production designer and cinematographer. Once we found our bearings, we did some tests and then locked in our four-part approach, which then became our visual bible on set. On an independent film budget, this was a lot to ask. We couldn't just accept the elements that came with a particular location. Rather, we had to constantly think on our feet and then watch as our remarkably agile art department made instant transformations in order to bring a set in line with a particular world.

One of the highlights of production was shooting the scene outside the grocery store. The entire crew was standing behind the video monitor wondering how this little nine-year-old boy was going to pull off the most dramatically challenging scene of the film (we read with over 200 kids before casting him). When the time came, we were captivated. It was absolutely chilling to watch. It's a difficult enough scene on paper, but his performance made it terrifying. After the fourth take, I turned around to see how the silent crew had reacted. Most of them were in tears. That's when I knew we had something that was going to work.

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