The Beautiful Truth of ‘Fruitvale Station’
Do Not See This Movie For Its Tragedy But For Its Cockeyed, Utterly Californian Optimism
In this state, our fictions are often better teachers than the truth.
The most significant California film in years is Fruitvale Station, based on the shooting death of a 22-year-old Hayward man, Oscar Grant, by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer on New Year’s Eve in the first hours of 2009. Written and directed by the young Bay Area writer-director Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station has picked up critical acclaim. It has also been garnering criticism for departures from the real-life story on which it is based.
What’s fact is that …
