Fruitvale Station

December 31, 2008 marks the last hours of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a young man whose efforts to turn his life around are thwarted by a deadly confrontation at a San Francisco train station.

In the presence of injustice, passion typically prevails over prudence. In filmmaking – and all art, really – the intense desire to call attention to a wrong far too easily manifests itself as hyperbole, polemic, sensationalism, and distortion. The tragic end of Oscar Grant (Spoiler Alert: He was shot by a police officer while handcuffed. The officer apparently mistook his sidearm for his Taser. Whether an honest mistake or not, Grant did not deserve such an end.) is almost certainly an injustice. But while many would have seized upon his story to make a statement, to use Oscar Grant as a means to signify or remonstrate, first-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler took a different approach. He simply took a step back and told the story of Oscar’s last day, and in doing so, created a far more potent film than an Oliver Stone/Costa-Gavras-style excoriation would have yielded.

Fruitvale Station is not a documentary, nor does it purport to be one (Coogler, for instance, inserted a scene where Oscar comforts a pitbull that had been hit by a car, foreshadowing his own demise later on). However, its minimalist approach and lack of gloss does effectively convey a sense of realism. Even the mundane moments (such as Oscar stopping for gas) serve to heighten the believability of the proceedings.

The film also benefits from both strong acting and strong characterization. Oscar is not lionized here. He is depicted as a complex, flawed (he served time, had a temper, and was dishonest with his girlfriend) human being rather than a media-sanctified victim. That very humanness makes him sympathetic and relatable, qualities abetted by Jordan’s understated-but-convincing performance. Octavia Spencer, who helped the film get made, is a pillar of strength as Oscar’s upright, hard-working, and occasionally adversarial mother. Disappointingly, however, the police officers involved in the shooting (played by Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray) are reduced to one-dimensional antagonists with little depth. As a consequence, Oscar’s confrontation with them is when the film feels at its most scripted and dramatized.

It came as a shock to some that Fruitvale Station did not reap any Oscar nominations. It would come as a bigger shock, however, if this is the last we’ve heard from Coogler, who is only 27. He may not have a statue to show for it, but he will have to settle for effectively shining a light on a life lost too soon.

8.25/10