Fruitvale Station is a film, influenced by a true story, about a young man who was shot and killed by police in Oakland, California. The movie is set in 2009 and tells the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22 year old man who was in a serious relationship with his girlfriend Sophia and even had a young daughter, Tatiana. Throughout the film we see Oscar struggle financially, he had recently gotten fired from his job and was going back in forth mentally trying to decide if her should go back to sell drugs. We see at one point that Oscar eventually gets caught up dealing and ends up in Jail. This is just one example of how African Americans get in trouble and put into the system all because they were trying to make a living for themselves and their families.
The movie plot is spread throughout 2 days including some flashbacks. It is set on New Years eve, Oscar and his girlfriend drop their daughter off at relatives and head out to go watch fireworks with a few friends. They decided to take the train but on the way back home they ran into some trouble. Oscar had gotten into a fight on the train and the police were called. As the police arrive we see them pick out some of Oscars friends as Oscar tries to hide, a cop hops on the train looking for another person and spots Oscar and instantly picks him out of everyone on the train because he “fit the description”. Right away the cops become overly aggressive with Oscar and his friends, the cop even kicked them even though they were just sitting on the ground. Eventually things got out of hand and one of the cops punched Oscar in the face, once again an example excessive force. Back up then showed up and the cops continued to be aggressive t=with Oscar and his friends cussing at them an aiming their tasers at them which made tension rise, Oscar tries to talk to the cops and begins to stand up but again the cops became aggressive. Things got very physical again and the cops try and put them in handcuffs. As the cop and Oscar go back and forth with words, the cop uses the N-word, more specifically the hard R. Fighting begins and Oscar is forced onto his stomach and held down, then all of the sudden a gun shot goes off and we see blood pouring out of Oscars mouth. Oscar ends up dying the next day at the hospital.
This movie was released around the same time the Black Lives Matter movement had picked up traction in the mainstream media. This movie gave good insight to the rest of the world on what police brutality is and what it looks like. It showed what an encounter with the police can look like for a black man or woman and why many African Americans are afraid of the police or do not trust them.
Keek, Jorge. “’Fruitvalle Station’: Educational Movies about Police Brutality.” Film Daily, 18 June 2020, filmdaily.co/news/fruitvale-station-police-brutality/.