Another movie based on a true story that made many think the Academy racist for a lack of nominations. I'd had it on my streaming list for quite a while, but only when looking with my dad did I muster the courage to give it a try.
If you don't remember the headline event, the opening RL footage (with a mercifully timed blackout) will remind you: Oscar Grant III, age 22, was unduly shot by Oakland-area subway police. Most of what follows the footage apparently takes place in the 24 hours before the shooting, preparing to celebrate not New Year's Eve 2008 so much as his mother's birthday. It ends with his death the next day and an epilogue regarding the high-profile aftermath.
Manipulative? I'm not sure. The leading cop (not the shooter) seems especially wretched, jumping to conclusions about guilty parties when a White fellow ex-con starts a fight with Oscar (Michael B. Jordan) on the subway and gets away with it. But the police all act as shocked as anyone else after the bang, and they do make an effort to keep him alive for the ambulance. Maybe it was an accident as the court believed, albeit unprofessional enough to result in the firing of all officers involved. (The detainees were a bit uncooperative, just not to that extent.) My dad pointed out that the emergency personnel act awfully unhelpful toward Oscar's girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz), but that might be typical hurried procedure.
As for Oscar himself, the film doesn't shy away from his faults. In a flashback, his history of petty crimes, most notably pot dealing, got so bad that his mother (Octavia Spencer) stopped visiting him in jail. Afterward, he understandably has trouble landing a legitimate job. Sophina gets annoyed at him again and again for irresponsibility.
At the same time, his tendency to spoil their daughter is pretty endearing -- certainly better than the opposite problem. He disposes of his stash and lies to his contact about what happened to it. He repeatedly does nice things for total strangers, mostly for plot-unimportant reasons. If I didn't already know he was going to die, I'd have been quite unprepared for it. He simply wasn't that bad, assuming this telling is halfway accurate.
...I should mention how much the term "plot-unimportant" matters. I suspect that a key reason for the Oscars not loving this Oscar is that there isn't much of a plot to follow. Until the third act, it's little more than a day in the life of an ordinary if disadvantaged young man. As much as I like credibility on screen, it has its downside.
From a filmmaking standpoint, FS is still pretty deft. I appreciate having more Black star power than in the flick whose review I linked above. Writer-director Ryan Coogler, who was 27 at the time, hadn't made much of a name for himself before; now he's gone on to Creed and the upcoming Black Panther. I'd say he earned it.
My dad liked the film but called it hard to watch. I found it easy to watch but not a must-see. Nowadays, we hear quite enough about loose cannons in law enforcement with a likely anti-Black component. The best that FS has to offer now is an extra detailed portrayal to flesh out the face of one victim. If you're ready for that emotional wallop, feel free to set aside 85 minutes.
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