Fruitvale Station is a film based on a real life story about Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old African-American, who met his end on New Years Eve 2008 on the platform of Fruitvale station. It is a recreation of the unknown story to most about Oscar. First time director Ryan Coogler depicted an account that really went beyond expectations while directing this film – the underlying emotions are so transparent it is hard as a viewer to not let yourself be succumbed by the story line. Love, hate, sorrow, regret and guilt are all entangled in this tragic emotional drama based on a young man’s life in California.

Fruitvale Station is the 26-year-old writer/director Ryan Coogler’s first film debut. He abandoned his dreams and studies to become a doctor for the film screen. He realized his passion for screen writing far outweighed his passion for medicine, so he decided to begin studying filmmaking. Fruitvale Station was produced by Forest Whitaker’s production company, Significant Productions, and with a small budget, mainly from grants, the film premiered for the first time at The Sundance Film Festival in 2013, and received the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award.

Coogler does not remember the semantics used by the media when breaking the news live, but he does have a vivid image in his head.

– I’ve tried remembering the headlines on TV when I first heard about what happened. It’s all fuzzy, but I definitely remember a picture of his face and a clip of the live footages from that night at the station, he says. I think the headlines in the media were somewhere in the lines of “Man shot by police”- buy I’m not sure.

Being from the California Bay Area himself, Coogler sympathized with Oscar Grant, and decided to take his story further.

– I mean we were the same age, so I felt kind of connected to him. I wanted to tell his story again, even though there was a big uproar during the time of his death I felt like I wanted more people to know about what happened. It wasn’t fair, neither to him nor to his family.

– Humanity sometimes gets lost, and it’s a real tragedy what happened. When tragedies like these happen people turn it into a political struggle. Like when they start printing t-shirts with Oscar Grants face on them and so on – people turn to iconography to pursue the struggle on injustices in society. But in the middle of all that I think they forget that what happened was actually real and Oscar Grant was real, and I think this was another reason for why I pursued the idea of making a film about him.

The film is set on the actual scenes where Oscar Grant lived, the Bart station, the neighborhood he lived at, and the hospital he was treated at. All settings were real, and ultimately, Coogler believes the authenticity of the film has been a contributing factor as to why Fruitvale Station has touched so many people.

– It was so real, and I think the whole crew felt that. It was a kind of inspiration for the actors, and it was easier for them to convey the emotions, but it was also very difficult because you felt the pain and the sorrow throughout the whole making of the film as well.

– Method-wise we used small cameras, phones, and the actual locations like the Bart station, the hospital. ‘Cause I mean the hospital can’t shut down for us, we had a limited amount of time there, so we had to be time sufficient.

This film has brought up a lot of controversy over incidents similar to this, like the Zimmerman case verdict, but Coogler didn’t expect this. Fruitvale Station was in production when Zimmerman passed away.

– I didn’t see the controversy coming, but I understand why.

Oscar Grant passed away on New Years 2009, which also happened to be his mother birthday. Coogler understood that the film would have an effect on Grant’s family, but he contacted them with his idea and they went along with it.

– Obviously it’s difficult for them to relive it on-screen, that’s why I’ve been in contact with his family throughout the whole process. This has been really important to me.

– It was also really important for me that we chose the right actors, it had to believable. We sent out scripts to some and some auditioned. Every cast member did a great job in conveying his story. It’s been an emotional journey, but a journey I thought was important to take.

Coogler has a lot of ideas up his sleeve for future films, but he’s already working on his next film production.

– I’m kind of working on a boxing movie. I’ve boxed myself so yeah, the next film is going to be something in the line of contemporary sport.

Words by Derya Aktas

Fruitvale Station will be in theaters on 10 January. 

http://youtu.be/ceVVVils8z4