12/20/2023 0 Comments Fruitvale station putlockers![]() ![]() Although Oscar acknowledges the fact that dealing illegal drugs is undoubtedly a risky form of income, he feels as though his hand is forced due to his recent termination from his job at a grocery store. At the beginning of the film, Sophina pleads Oscar to stop dealing marijuana. Oscar Grant is portrayed as a family man living in a low-income neighborhood and displays his daily efforts to remove his family from poverty. This theme is demonstrated in a beautifully complex manner throughout the entirety of this film. One being the criminalization and vilification of black men. This film highlights many injustices that black communities face in the modern era. The officer who killed Grant was charged with involuntary manslaughter and served a mere 11 months in jail, claiming he mistook his gun for his taser. The significance of this true story lies in the aftermath of his death which sparked a series of protests and riots against the injustice of police brutality. ![]() “Fruitvale Station” describes Grant’s life and the events leading up to his death. ![]() He left behind his girlfriend Sophina and four-year-old daughter Tatiana. Grant was a young man from Hayward, California who was fatally shot on New Year’s Eve after an altercation with a BART transit police officer in 2009. The film “Fruitvale Station,” directed and written by Ryan Coogler is a story based on the death of Oscar Grant. Oscar’s determination to change, to turn his difficult life around and make it better, could not be more sincere.Fruitvale Station: A Story of Police Brutality and Institutionalized Racism Chronic lateness cost him his job at Joe’s, he’s been in prison, and he’s unnervingly quick to anger, a genuine good nature turning to livid fury in an instant.Īs much as “Fruitvale Station” makes no attempt to hide these things, it is also insistent that they do not define the man. This affection is especially visible in his relationship with his daughter, whom he clearly adores.īut, as the day moves on, we also hear about and see the things that have bedeviled Oscar. What makes this day special for Oscar is that it’s the birthday of his mother, Wanda (“The Help’s” Academy Award-winning Octavia Spencer in an especially strong performance), and he has to pick up the cake and the seafood for Grandma Bonnie’s gumbo that will be the highlight of the family celebration.Īs Oscar gets this done, stopping by Joe’s Market, where he used to work, to get the crabs, we get to see his warm side, the helpful way he puts Katie (Ahna O’Reilly), a customer who needs cooking advice, on the phone with Grandma Bonnie. In fact, though he and Sophina might catch the fireworks in San Francisco, he tells a friend it’s all going to be “nothing major, low key. Oscar has particular plans for this day, and not because it is New Year’s Eve. Oscar has been caught cheating, and though his regret and commitment to the relationship seem sincere, Sophina is finding it difficult to trust him and move on. 31 argument between Oscar and Sophina (a fine Melonie Diaz), his girlfriend and the mother of their 4-year-old daughter, Tatiana (Ariana Neal). “Fruitvale Station” begins almost exactly 24 hours before it ends, with an early morning Dec. Far from making the rest of “Fruitvale” anticlimactic, knowing as a viewer what no one on-screen knows grounds this film in an unmistakable way, giving it a sense of tragic inevitability that grows as the minutes tick away. The director made the wise decision to start “Fruitvale Station” with those viral phone videos, so we can see both how abrupt and shocking his death was and be under no illusions about how this film is going to end. PHOTOS: Oscar Grant subway shooting story on film Not only does Jordan have Grant’s distinctive smile but he also, Coogler said at Sundance, can convey the particular combination of “warmth and an edge” that makes us feel we are experiencing the man as he must have been. Coogler wrote the role of Grant, Osc to his friends, with the actor in mind. In this, Jordan - memorable as the conflicted young drug dealer Wallace in “The Wire” - is essential. ![]() What makes “Fruitvale” so effective is its determination to do justice to all aspects of Grant’s character, to resist the temptation to view him as anything other than the full, flawed human being we see on-screen. A natural storyteller, he has the ability to let narrative simply unfold, to bring us in on the inside of a life even while working under the constraints of a tight budget and a 20-day shooting schedule. It’s Coogler’s empathetic talent to be alive to what is happening on-screen, to know how much weight to place on any given moment, and best of all, to understand that the difference between giving things their due (rather than overdoing it) is the key to dramatic impact. ![]()
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