Our hero, Luis, and Occupy Wall Street/Movimiento 15-M

NOTE:  We recently posted a new scene from Domino showing our hero Luis at home with his family.  The scene is not intended to be high drama.  It mostly gives us a little more context with respect to Luis, but you will notice that the children are playing with dominoes and there's some hint of problems in his conversation with his wife.  In case you're interested, here's the LINK.

NOW--on to Luis and Occupy Wall Street/Movimiento 15-M.

It´s good to be a thorn in the side of the banks that are evicting people, but what is Movimiento 15-M or Occupy Wall Street doing to STOP evictions?

At one point, in the second half of our film, we see Luis passing by a major march and demonstration organized by the Movimiento 15-M, the Indignados, of Spain.  This Movimiento 15-M pre-dates the Occupy Wall Street movement by several months, and as in Occupy Wall Street, is an expression of unhappiness with the economic crisis, unemployment, home evictions, and the role of banks and politicians.

Luis, as you know, is a middle-aged family man in Spain who lost his job and is trying to find a new one before he becomes totally engulfed in financial disaster.  Luis is played by Antonio de la Malena.

And when he encounters the demonstration and march organized by the Movimiento 15-M, he looks at their placards (including one which says "Libertad"--"Liberty" and another which says to move from protesting to direct action).  Rather than joining in, however, he turns his back and goes on his way.

Why?  Surely he can agree with the movement's unhappiness with the crisis, the unemployment, the role that banks have had in creating the crisis and so forth.  And surely he can sympathize with the plight of people being evicted from their homes.

He turns his back because the movement really doesn't relate to him.  The demonstrations, discussions and protests are not going to get him a job.  They are not going to provide him with a way to support his family.  They are, in a word, irrelevant to his concerns.


[When I return to Jerez, I'll post a photo here of a demonstration....]

Perhaps if they succeed in changing the economic and political structure they WILL be relevant to him and his problems, but that is something likely to take years to achieve, if it ever happens at all.  What Luis and others like him need is a solution NOW.  And the Movimiento 15-M (or Occupy Wall Street) doesn't seem to have the capability of providing it.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be more about one of our supporting actors, Luis de la Tota.