Fruitvale Station(2013)

Submitted by Julio M

POOPER:
Oscar (Michael B. Jordan) is shot while being arrested and, later, dies of his injury in hospital, despite an emergency surgery. This tragedy sparks a series of riots and protests, and the shooter, Officer Ingram (Chad Michael Murray), is later tried and indicted.

Longer version:
Oscar Grant, recently paroled from being in prison under a gun charge, spends the last day of 2008 -and what, ultimately, unbeknownst to him, would be the last day of his life- righting wrongs and making amends with the people and places important to him, being successful with some, not quite so with others.

First, he tries to fix his troubled relationship with his girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz) -with whom he has a daughter, Tatiana (Ariana Neal)-, while they both drop the girl off at her daycare facility, after she challenges him over an infidelity; she does not oppose to him seeing his daughter whenever he feels like it, but seems conflicted over whether forgiving him. Later, he is seen revisiting Farmer Joe’s, the grocery store he used to work at, pleading to win back his old job, to no avail.

This setback makes him think about the possibility of returning to dealing marijuana, which he almost does but, then, at the last minute, has a change of heart and just throws away his stash. He is also seen visiting his mother Wanda (Octavia Spencer) -who visibly loved him, despite an apparent tumultuous interaction between them, due to Oscar’s troubled history-, as a birthday party/New Year’s celebration is taking place for her. He expresses his intention of taking the BART Train, instead of driving, to go see the New Year festivities happening in San Francisco with some friends; she is not keen about this, as she fears trouble might still happen, but nonetheless concedes.

Oscar takes off and tells Wanda he loves her, as she gazes at him with a lovingly motherly look. He goes, has a good time and, past midnight, already in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, catches the train to return home. While onboard, a customer from Farmer Joe’s, Katie (Ahna O’Reilly), spots him and calls his attention, to which he reacts friendly. However, a former fellow inmate from Oscar’s time in prison also notices him and comes forward to confront him; Oscar’s friends intervene in his defense and the confrontation escalates out of control, into a fight. As the train arrives at the Fruitvale Station, where Oscar would get off, BART Officers -having been called to the scene due to the onboard incident- intervene and detain the group.

Officers Caruso (Kevin Durand) and Ingram deal with Oscar, who has been beaten and is now bound, restrained and pinned, face down, to the floor of the station. As this happens, bystanders all around start pulling their cellphones to record the events -it is worthy of mention that the movie begins with real historical cellphone footage of the incident-. During the confrontation, Ingram surreptitiously pulls a gun and shoots an enraged Oscar in the back, which shocks everyone, including Oscar and Ingram themselves, and Sophina, who heard of the commotion and came to see about Oscar. Ingram recoils in fear from this, Oscar exclaims “You shot me, man!! I got a little girl!!”, Caruso demands to know what had just happened and medical assistance is requested for Oscar.

Oscar is rushed, alive and conscious but in critical condition, to Highland Hospital, with a large crowd of family, friends and witnesses standing by for the outcome at the Emergency Waiting Room. He undergoes surgery which appears to be successful, but, unfortunately, dies later in the morning from complications, which leaves Wanda and Sophina heartbroken and everyone else infuriated.

The aftermath of the tragedy shows Wanda mourning for her dead son and a beleaguered Sophina, tearfully trying to figure out how to tell Tatiana that her father is gone. The recordings obtained from witnesses’ cellphones, and later forwarded to TV stations and viralized through the internet and social media, proved to be a key element in the trial that ensued against Ingram -charged with involuntary manslaughter, while he claimed “he mixed up his gun with his taser”, and sentenced to 11 months in prison- and was one of the first widely-known instances in which bystanders recording situations involving the Police and viralizing them through the internet would put them under collective scrutiny for their actions, largely perceived by the public as mostly brutal and abusive. Moreover, numerous riots and protests in solidarity with Oscar affected the area and many other BART Officers involved in the situation were fired from their jobs.

The movie ends with real footage of a vigil for Oscar that took place at Fruitvale Station, 4 years later, in New Year’s 2013, with many people, including a then-older-looking Tatiana, in attendance.