Movie Review - Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station **** ( R) An incident of police brutality just after San Franciscans rang in the new year of 2009 triggered considerable public outrage at the time. It is dramatized here in a riveting reminder of how far we haven’t come in racial equity and understanding. We meet Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old black man from the East Bay. He’s done felony time, and is trying to get his life together, but struggling to make ends meet. He doesn’t want to let anyone down - his mother (Octavia Spencer), or his girlfriend and young daughter. Jobs are hard to find and to keep, but he resists dealing more of the drugs that landed him in prison before.

He and a group of friends take the BART train across the bay for the midnight fireworks. On the way back, a fight breaks out. As tempers flare, one of the transit cops shoots Oscar. The screenplay shows us his life leading up to that moment, creating solid empathy for the characters when reaching that fateful moment. This may not add up to pleasant viewing, but it’s timely and powerful, with superb performances - especially from Spencer and Jordan, who give us truly complex characters. A lesser production would have settled for serving up superficial "types" in hastening to drive home its cultural messages. Everyone involved on both sides of the camera deserves credit for the extra effort required to create the depth that makes its content so meaningful. (7/26/13)