Fruitvale Station

The very day and hour I moved to the Bay Area in 2009, Oscar Grant was bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the chest, face down and handcuffed, in a BART station filled with New Year's Eve revelers.

Grant's shooting by a twitchy public transit officer, who "mistook his Taser for a gun," is not the focus of the true story-inspired "Fruitvale Station." This poignant project was written by youthful Oakland native Ryan Coogler, and his directorial debut is as much about himself as the martyred Grant.

Being a young African-American man in America is fraught with judgment and danger, and this significant narrative, produced by Forest Whitaker, shows Grant as a person: Imperfect, but deserving of the chance to live his life.

Warmly portrayed ("not mimicked, but encapsulated") by Michael B. Jordan, Grant had been incarcerated, as are so many black men, yet he had returned home from San Quentin to find work, keep love alive with his girlfriend Sophina (feisty Melonie Diaz) and lovingly father his four-year-old daughter Tatiana (riveting Ariana Neal).

Grant died several hours after being shot (Officer Ingram served 11 months for involuntary manslaughter), and his story is shepherded by his grounded mother Wanda (luminous Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer)

Blu-ray extras include an artist talkback at the Oakland film premiere, and "The Story of Oscar Grant," whose death at age 22 sparked protests and outrage eclipsed only when Trayvon Martin met a sadly similar fate. Every 28 hours a black person is killed by American police, and the creative crew -- with other commentators like Russell Simmons, Common, and Edward James Olmos -- re-ask the question that, unlike African-American youth, will not die: Why can't we all get along?

"Fruitvale Station"
Combo Blu-ray and DVD
$22.98
http://www.fruitvalefilm.com/