Target: Swot
The Accountant: An Analysis of Negotiation
"Can one man, one hard drinking, chain smoking, backwoods accountant, stop a national conspiracy, change the course of history, and save a way of life? It's do-able... but it ain't gonna be purdy." The tagline for the 38 minute 2001 Oscar winner for Best Live Action Short Film, The Accountant, helps illustrate two men sharing a common goal, saving the farm to preserve a way of life.
The Accountant does an excellent job illustrating David's internal negotiation for how to save a way of life for his kids, which his family has managed for five generations. The accountant helps provide David options to achieve that goal because it his goal to preserve family farms and prevent corporate takeovers that change southerners way of life. One of these options must be taken, as all the other alternatives are felt to be exhausted.
The story begins with brothers David and Tommy heading over to their "daddy's" place to meet an accountant, who supposedly can help David out of his financial trouble with the farm. It is apparent that David is unprepared, which is a critical in all negotiations. For the meeting, he has gathered all of his financial documents, but has done no preparation to learn who about the accountant himself, which plays a critical factor later. Tommy explains that this accountant is the one who helped their neighbor, Johnny Vance, save his farm from financial trouble by reaping the insurance benefit of losing his arm in a hay bailing "accident". Tommy continues by saying, "From what I understand, there's only one option."
When the accountant arrives, he asks for all of David's papers: deeds, titles, loans, insurance, and receipts. Tommy and David get into an argument over the financial trouble of the farm, when the accountant asks David if his wife has a beauty mark on her left breast that resembles a faded third nipple in the dim light. David replies that she does and asks how he...
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