Fruitvale Station Review

Life is all about choices. We go about our daily routines—taking the eight o’ clock bus instead of the eight-thirty or having hamburgers for dinner as opposed to hot dogs—without ever really thinking about how these little, seemingly insignificant decisions can affect the course of our day. For Oscar Grant (played by Michael B. Jordan) the decision to take the train on December 31^st, 2008 was a fatal one.

Writer/Director Ryan Coogler’s feature-film debut “Fruitvale Station” depicts Grant’s last day on Earth and the decisions he made as a father, partner, friend, and son up until the moment that caused an upheaval in the Bay Area, as well as the rest of the country.

Oscar’s choices in this film are all about protection. Though desperate for cash, Oscar abstains from going back into weed dealing in order to provide for his young daughter a legitimate, safe upbringing. In a rather gut-wrenching flashback, we see Oscar in prison defending his mother’s honor after another inmate causes a stir, and while stalled on the tracks at Fruitvale Station, we see Oscar protecting himself and his friends, which ultimately leads to his death.

Coogler cleverly uses the actual footage of the shooting as a prologue for the film; the daily routine of Oscar and his family is shrouded in a cloud of foreboding tension as a result. The majority of audience members will be fully aware of the ending to this film; showing us the end at the beginning heightens the preceding scenes, forcing us to really concentrate on who Oscar Grant was as a man, and how his decisions affected those around him.

Michael B. Jordan (in a role that will surely warrant him an Oscar nod) leads this film brilliantly with both tremendous warmth and contained ferocity. We can see the frustration and embarrassment in his eyes when he’s laid off from work, and we can feel the unconditional love for his daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal) and girlfriend (the wonderful Melonie Diaz) in his great, big smile. Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer supports this cast as Grant’s mother, Wanda, who suggests to Oscar that taking BART might be the safer choice.

It is quite difficult to view a film like this and not be reminded of what is going on in today’s news, but Coogler admirably abstains from using his film as a soap-box for issues such as these. Coogler's screenplay is natural and current and depicts these characters as real people without any sort of agenda. This film is not so much about Grant’s death as it is about his life and the impact he had on those whom he loved dearly. The decisions he made during the hours before his death may have seemed insignificant at the time, but for Oscar they were all done with the mindset of protection, love, and even inspiration.