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Fruitvale Station is a 2013 film made by debut director Ryan Coogler, starring Michael B. Jordan. The movie is based on the real story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old African-American who the BART officer shot on a crowded platform of the Fruitvale station. The story was not Hollywoodized, and the characters were not cleared of imperfections, which gives the audience a sense of realism and genuineness. The film combined acute social issues with a personal drama that made it both moving and thought-provoking.
Fruitvale Station begins with footage of the arrest of Oscar Grant and his friends that a witness of Oscar’s murder recorded. After that, the film walks us through the last day of Oscar’s life, showing him as a flawed but good man struggling to improve his life. Even though Oscar is constantly rocking from side to side, his love for his family and daughter raises a strong desire in him to change for the better. At the end of the film, Grant, with his company, goes by train to watch fireworks, where a fight between Grant and his former inmate occurs. Due to civil unrest, the police officers arrest Oscar, and one of them shoots Oscar in the back.
The film reflects the complex spectrum of American problems connected to systemic racism and police brutality. The movie shows how dangerous and challenging life is for a young African-American who is constantly seen as a threat or a problem. Although Oscar is not whitewashed in the film to manipulate views’ feelings, we still understand that no flaws justify racial profiling and abuse. Stereotyping often leads to conflict and misunderstanding, but in the minds of the police, it leads to tragedy.
Undeniably, Fruitvale Station influenced people and encouraged them to learn more about Oscar Grant’s story and other instances of systemic racism in law enforcement structures. Looking at the comments on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, it is hard not to notice how many people found out about this event because of the movie. In addition, it confronts viewers with such an honest, sincere, and emotional storytelling and such lively and down-to-earth characters that it is easy to feel the situation deeply.
There is a great temptation to say that art is not capable of changing the world, judging by the events of recent years. The police murder of a handcuffed and unarmed George Floyd in 2020 is much like that of Oscar Grant in 2009. However, only small local protests followed the death of Oscar Grant, and many people learned his story only from the movie. By 2020, people across the country could no longer calmly look at such an example of police brutality and racist prejudice. Thus, public attitudes did change over the decade in which the film industry and journalism raised and openly discussed the topics of racism and racial profiling.
Fruitvale Station is a multidimensional film that portrays a personal drama realistically acted out by brilliant artists. Nevertheless, personal becomes political seamlessly integrated into the social and cultural context that the audience cannot unsee. The movie is not black and white, and it does not offer ready-made answers; it does not flood the viewer with pathos. Instead, it presents a story of how it happened, played most realistically. It relays on each viewer’s humanism to see Oscar as a person and human being deserving to live as much as any other person.
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