Fruitvale Station

 

Directed and written by Ryan Coogler

With Michael Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melanie Diaz, and Ariana Neal

 Every now and then a film comes along that reassures your faith in the cinema's

ability to really move you, to tell a story in a truly honest way with no Hollywood embellishments, to put you in touch with gut wrenching humanity.  The Fruitvale Station is this film.  It is based on events that happened on January 1, 2009 when a 22 year old unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, was infamously killed by a transit officer on the BART transit system in San Francisco. This harrowing film tells the story of what happened in the last day in Oscar’s Grant’s life. 

 The film begins with actual footage taken on the cellphones of horrified witnesses

that night.   Then, in flashback,  Oscar(Michael Jordan) is shown wearing a prison uniform as his mother(Octavia Spencer) visits him.

Fast-forward to December 31, 2007.  Oscar is  home with his girlfriend, Sophina(Melonie Diaz), the mother of his four year old daughter Tatiana(Ariana Neal) upon whom he dotes.  He has vowed to get his life together after being imprisoned for dealing marijuana.  He has since gotten a job in a butcher shop which he loses for being late.  It is clear he really wants to go straight but he hasn’t gotten it right yet.

 Fruitvale Station chronicles that last day of his life, an ordinary day. as he takes his daughter to school, gets a birthday card and a carrot cake for his mother’s birthday.  He throws away the pot.  In a prophetic scene, he comes across a dying stray dog who has been hit by a car.  He cuddles the animal’s head and speaks softly to it as he lays it alongside the road.

He attends a birthday party for his mother that evening where a huge extended family has gathered.  The warmth of the family and friends’ relationships is obvious.   Oscar and Sophina take the fated BART train into San Francisco to continue the New Years Revelries.  I promise you that the last few minutes of Fruitvale Station are as disturbing as any you’ve ever seen.

  There is clearly a sweetness to Oscar, a kind and decent young man who is also prone to instant rages, telling white lies to Sophina. But he is anything but a stereotype.  Michael Jordan(from TV’s Friday Night Lights) plays this role with extraordinary passion and pathos.  His Oscar is a flawed character and Jordan exhibits

 the despair that rules his life.

This is the debut feature of Ryan Coogler, a 27 year old graduate of USC film School.  This is his debut feature.  He is able to put the audience in touch with moral outrage as he immerses us in Oscar’s life and its end.   He had dreams, feelings, and cared for many people, and it’s all here in Fruitvale Station.

Director Coogler doesn’t preach about Ghetto boys having limited opportunities, getting a raw deal.  His strategy is to dramatize a young black man’s daily routines and pressures.  He is a normal Dad, worried about paying the rent, his daughter’s schooling, just paying the bills.  Coogler tells a compassionate true

story.  It all feels so real, shot with hand held cameras.

 Of course, the George Zimmerman acquittal has helped this film get the attention it deserves.   It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance film festival.  It is Academy Award material, if the Academy has any sense.

I will say this about  Director Ryan Coogler : A star is born.