Pass the Popcorn: Movies from where I Sit

We watched "Fruitvale Station" last night, as my husband had never seen it.  I was even more impressed with it than in the movie theater.  My husband noted it went by faster than it's 85 minute running time.  I think that choice was important, because one has the sense of a life gone to soon, too quickly, and what is left is the loss.  Michael B. Jordan is great as Oscar Grant, and Melonie Diaz as his girlfriend is so real you feel you know her.  What Ryan Cooper, the director has done is show us an ordinary day in an ordinary life of a young man without prospects, or direction, but with loving support of his family and therefore he has this amazing potential.  He is also a loving father to his four year old daughter, and thus the randomness of his death is all the more tragic.  Without any editorializing or preaching, you begin to see the loss of thousands of young black men like him.  They are lost boys, with no help and no future, hoping to survive in mean streets, and often being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because they are forced to live in the wrong place and they are desperate for money and respect.

Oscar Grant is not portrayed as a victim, he is a confused young man, he has been in jail, he has sold pot, he can't get to work on time, he promises everyone he will take care of them, but he's just a boy, and can't even take care of himself.  But you see he is personable, has good instincts most of the time, and wants to straighten up.  Just the fact that he is black makes him suspect, and the boy behavior of he and his pals, who are angry and defensive, (and how could they not be?) is a recipe for disaster.  You feel you know him, he's innocent, just give him a chance to grow up and figure out his place in the world.  Please.

Octavia Spencer is touching as his mother, strong, worried, and then grieving.  He is her baby boy.  We all understand that.  The film ends with Tatiania asking, "Where's Daddy?"  a heartbreaking question for too many black children.  Our society has done little to address this dilemma.  We grieve for Oscar Grant, and at the same time, we come closer to feeling responsible for this violence.  Racism is at the heart of this tragedy, and it's at home, in an area diverse and intermingled, which is shown so well in the film.  If it happens here, then shame on us.