Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Non Negotiable,’ a man finds himself in an impossible situation. Being the best hostage negotiator in the country, Alan Bender is always on call. He loves his job too much, and this has started to cause problems in his marriage. While he takes a step to amend that situation, an entirely new problem presents itself. It turns out that someone has kidnapped the President, and they want no one but Alan to act as the negotiator.
As the life of the President hangs in the balance, Alan realizes that his marriage’s future is also dependent on the success and failure of this case. Caught between his personal and professional life, Alan has a lot to deal with. His internal tug-of-war makes him a highly relatable character, but how close does he come to reality? SPOILERS AHEAD
Alan Bender is an Entirely Fictional Character
Directed by Juan Taratuto, ‘Non Negotiable’ is an entirely fictional story focusing on a made-up character, Alan Bender, played by Mauricio Ochmann. The film was intended to be a thriller but with comedic elements. The director wanted the audience to feel the gravity of the situation but wanted to infuse the story with a levity that makes it more relatable to normal life.
For the character of Alan, the filmmakers looked toward real-life hostage negotiators to learn the methodology that goes into such situations. While it’s unclear whether they brought real-life hostage negotiators to work as consultants for the movie, professionals were referenced during the writing process. This was also important to develop Alan’s character, especially when one sees his personal life from the lens of his devout professionalism.
It is good advice not to take work home with you, but with Alan, his work becomes such an integral part of his life that he ends up using the same tactics on his family members. So, whenever he has an argument with his wife, he treats it as a negotiation, and this frustrates her to no end. She feels less like his wife and more like a criminal, and to her, it seems he is treating their marriage as his job. This tendency also causes trouble because Alan prioritizes his job so much that he gives no importance to his wife’s personal and professional struggles.
The filmmakers wanted to bring out this challenge in Alan’s character, where he has entangled his personal and professional life to such an extent that he doesn’t know where one begins and the other ends. This makes him a far more interesting character because this adds a sense of realism to his otherwise fictional existence. When the audience looks at him, they see their own complicated life reflected in him, especially in the struggle to balance personal and professional life.
What makes the character more realistic, if not entirely likable, is Mauricio Ochmann’s portrayal of the man. Ochmann is known for his roles that resonate with the audience, and in Alan, he brings a delicate balance of seriousness and comedy, which allows the audience to feel more at home with him and root for him, even though he has flaws. The actor shared an incredible chemistry with Tato Alexander, who plays Victoria, who revealed that she and Ochmann would play off of each other’s comedic sensibilities, which gave more depth to the scenes. The actors’ off-screen relationship worked well to bring the complexity of Alan and Victoria’s relationship onto the screen.
Considering all this, we can say that while Alan Bender is a fictional character created to suit the plot of the film, he has been crafted so that he comes off as a person that the audience could say they have known in their lives. His relatability is a huge factor in making the whole film work, and Mauricio Ochmann brings the necessary everyman quality to Alan, which works in the favour of the character and the film.
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