Fruitvale Station

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

It’s a pseudo documentary in that it’s based on real life events, but it’s scripted and performed by excellent actors, including an award-worthy performance by Michael B. Jordan as the young protagonist (Oscar) who is  struggling mightily to get on the straight and narrow and raise his young daughter and earn a living so he can marry his long-time girlfriend. Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz are outstanding as well as Oscar’s mom and lover respectively. The ending is shown first, so you know it’s ugly, and gives you a feeling of dread throughout the daily comings and goings of this family. You get to admire and hope for Oscar, knowing all the time that he’s doomed. The incident is reminiscent of many real-life cases of police shootings, and by the closing credits we learn how justice is meted out once again.

Bill C’s Review – 4 out of 5

I also liked this movie a lot although this will be tough to watch for a lot of people.  This is a very timely movie with the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin story in the news recently.  While our society has made a lot of progress we still have a ways to go and this movie definitely makes you think about that.

The scene at the beginning that Bill talks about is actual video from a phone camera leading up to the shooting.  Michael B. Jordan is excellent (he played Wallace on The Wire) as are the others in the supporting cast.

This is a very powerful movie and is worth seeing.

NY Times article about director

IMDB

Rotten Tomatoes

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