Instruction
Fruitvale Station is a movie based on the life and death of Oscar Grant who was killed on New Year’s Day 2009. Movie critic Geoff Berkshire said that the movie’s “relentlessly positive portrayal of its subject” rings “false,” and that the film “forgoes nuanced drama for heart-tugging, head-shaking and rabble-rousing.” Berkshire goes on to proclaim that the movie “mostly functions to further the transformation of a flesh-and-blood man into an unintentional martyr.” Furthermore, “There’s no need to stack the deck with scenes of Grant tending to a stray dog injured in a hit-and-run, phoning his grandma to help a stranger decide what kind of fish to fry for her boyfriend, and convincing a grouchy store owner to re-open his establishment so two women can use the bathroom.”
(a) Do you agree with Berkshire’s critique?
(b) Would you consider Fruitvale Station a political film?
(c) How does the film contribute to your understanding of race relations in America?
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