Fruitvale Station

[krickets]

My cousins are in town with their SOs, and yesterday me and the boys (my cousin, and my other cousin's boyfriend) went to a movie. Their choice. They picked Fruitvale Station and it was something that had been on my radar, and a film I was definitely interested in, but I knew that I categorically should not see this film because I just knew that it would enrage me. If you don't know, the movie tells a true story, so knowing the background on that, I was not eager to put myself through that, emotionally, in a crowded theater. I was right.


But I did anyway, obviously. From the moment Oscar was shot, until the end, I was crying. After he was shot, and the officer started manhandling him and rolling him around, I had to talk myself out of leaving the theater twice. I just knew I was going to seriously lose it and I knew I didn't want to sit there and watch him die. So maybe twenty minutes? Or it felt like twenty minutes of tears streaming down my face. My cousin Brandon was sitting next to me, and he said that he had to keep himself from looking over at me or he would have lost it too. Then, afterward, myself and Jake had to both excuse ourselves to the restroom to cry some more regain our composure. It truly affected me that much.

I am glad I saw it, but it definitely left me wrecked.

Brandon (in the car on the way home): "I need to go watch some cartoons or something."
Me: "I should turn some music on, instead of making us sit here in our quiet sadness."
Jake: "I like the quiet sadness."
(I didn't turn the radio on.)

I have never experienced anything quite like it in terms of audience reaction. As the final events played out the mood in the theater was decidedly somber. Except for a few cries of disgust at the end when the fate of the police officer who shot Oscar was shown on screen, every moment of silence in the movie was met with complete silence in the theater. When it ended, we all just sort of quietly filed out, as if we were leaving a funeral. It was powerful, powerful stuff.


Of course, it brings up questions that I can't even begin to answer. I thought the movie did an amazing job and portraying Oscar as a deeply flawed, but worthy human being. It was clear from the very first scene, the very first lines, that Oscar was not going to be portrayed as a saint, which would have been a mistake. But they did make you feel for him and they did make you like him and root for him. He was a person and he did nothing to warrant a shot to the back while being held on the ground at point blank range. I couldn't help but think about Trayvon Martin, and how coincidentally timely the wide release of this movie is.

Comments

[quiet-rebel.livejournal.com]

Ack, I just got back from seeing it. Broke my heart especially Octavia Spencer's performance. I loved how they tied in the hugging scene from the jail at the end. That's when I lost it :(

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I basically lost it the second he was shot and was like "you shot me?" or whatever the line is. But YES. Octavia Spencer and that scene! I actually also loved the time when someone asked to accompany her to see him and she says "no, he's my boy" or something. UGH. Right in the feels. The movie was so incredibly powerful. Kind of still not over it.