This last entry isn't really a spoiler, or at least it shouldn't be. On New Years Day in 2009, Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a police officer at the Fruitvale Station stop on the BART train in the Bay Area. The movie does not hide this; in fact, the first thing you see in the movie is the footage of the actual event taking place. It is at once horrifying and surreal watching the final moments of a real human being. The film is a day-in-the-life story of his final day, showing his tremendous capacity to care for his daughter as well as the short fuse of his temper. Those who say the movie depicted Oscar too positively were not only nitpicking the story, they also missed the point. Even if Oscar wasn't exactly the same good guy he was in the movie (although basically every report on his personality says that he was) he was still a human being, and at age 22 he deserved the chance to continue to grow. Michael B. Jordan plays Oscar with tremendous grace, at age 26 he is already one of the best working actors in America. The entire time you're watching the movie you hope that it doesn't end, not only because it is incredibly well-made but also so the story doesn't reach its heartbreaking conclusion. But first-time feature director Ryan Coogler doesn't shy away from depicting the actual event, the sequence at the BART station takes its time to build on the audience's knowing sense of dread. By the time the movie finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It's an incredibly affecting story, and although it deals in tragedy it doesn't rest its laurels on the injustice of what happened in reality. It's a measured take on something that is at once deeply personal and strikingly bigger. The tragedy is that Fruitvale Station is one of the only movies that we are seeing about people like Oscar Grant, and we are only watching it because Oscar Grant was killed. The tragedy is that so many other people like Oscar are killed without anyone ever hearing their story. But Fruitvale Station tells Oscar Grant's story beautifully, and it is deserving of the accolades it did (and will) receive.
Bryan Hickman is a WhatCulture contributor residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Bryan's passions include film, television, basketball, and writing about himself in the third person.
