Although the talky scene that follows is filmed in one take from a static camera, there is an energy to it generated by three interacting kinetic elements: the movement of the background as the ferry crosses the bay, the carefully planned choreography of the actors within the frame, and the overlap and interplay of the dialogue. Later in the movie a companion scene - also shot in a single take - will play out between Brody, Hooper and Vaughn in front of the defaced billboard.
In the ferry scene Vaughn has the upper hand and Brody is literally pressed up against the fence, hemmed in by the mayor and his factotums. Not only do they physically surround the chief, but they also gang up on him with words. When Brody directs a question at Vaughn, Meadows answers it. When Vaughn invites the medical examiner to give his opinion, he puts the words ('Boat propeller?') into his mouth. Brody initially resists the pressure ('That doesn't mean we have to serve them up as smorgasbord.'), but quickly gives in to the combination of Vaughn's professed avuncular concern (the gentle hand on the arm, the use of the Christian name) and the presentation of a plausible alternative reality ('A summer girl goes swimming...'). Meadows's comment ('It's happened before.') provides Brody - the urban man with no experience of watery deaths ('What the hell do they usually do? Wash up or float, or what?') - with a convenient precedent. The chief of police finally begins to capitulate with the telling line: 'I'm just reacting to what I was told.' And, of course, the very next scene on the beach shows exactly that: Brody reacting rather than acting.
In the later scene in front of the billboard the balance of power has shifted. Brody and Hooper speak almost as one, their dialogue overlapping as they run off a litany of facts about shark attacks. The Mayor is on the defensive and walks away from the two men, clutching at straws ('You don't have the tooth?') and trying to deflect the assault with irrelevancies ('Sick vandalism.') and snide remarks ('Love to prove that, wouldn't you?'). As in the ferry scene, Brody employs a food reference ('If you open the beaches on the fourth of July, it's like ringing the dinner bell.') to predict the consequences of keeping the beaches open.
In both scenes Larry Vaughn wears the same jacket decorated with a distinctive anchor motif. This magnificent item of wardrobe not only says something about his vanity, but also serves as an ironic comment on his character: there is nothing stable about the shifting conscience of this small town politician.
