Film Analysis: Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station, a film made in 2013, written and directed by Ryan Cooler, is a biographical drama film. The film is based on the real-life events that led to the death of a young man by the name of Oscar Grant, who was killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer in Oakland, California. The film follows Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) in his experiences of the last day of his life. Interestingly, the film begins with actual footage of Oscar Grant and his friends being detained by BART police officers at Fruitvale station on January 1, 2009, just before Grant’s abrupt death. After the opening scene of the actual footage, the film cuts to a scene where Grant and his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz) getting into a heated argument about Grant’s recent affair. This argument ends with Grant leaving their home and then him trying to get his job back at the local grocery store. Following attending a birthday party for his mother New Years Eve, Grant decides to take …show more content…
With emerging movements in todays society such as “Black Lives Matter”, this film, only being three years old, is very relevant. The goal of the movie is to stir human emotions, hoping to show the flaws in today’s justice system. The cop who killed Oscar Grant, Officer Johannes Mehserle, threw him on the platform and shot Grant in the back, killing him. Apparently, Officer Mehserle stated to a fellow officer, during the event, “Get back, I am gonna tase him.” However, Mehserle grabbed his gun instead and shot Grant once in the back. According to Mehserle Grant’s words were “You shot me!” and then was rushed to the hospital, only to be pronounced dead the very next day. After a very long criminal investigation into Grant’s death, Mehserle would only serve one year in jail. The following investigation just shows the miscarriage of justice, which is apparent in today’s