WOW. What a movie. It was extremely well done and if it doesn't win an Academy Award, I will be disappointed. The movie had several tentacles, not the least of which is how we view race in America. The movie is based on the last day in the life of Oscar Grant who was shot in the "back" on New Year's Day, 2009, by one of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) policeman who later was convicted of manslaughter. The policeman's Defense was that he meant to "taser" Oscar but accidentally shot him with his gun.
As a San Franciscan, I lived through the incident and have no objective data but it just seems that the incident changed policing throughout the Bay area. As I have watched various protests (Demonstrations are a way of life here), the police seem to be more culturally aware and gentler when crisis happen.
The movie didn't make Oscar Grant, the protagonist, a hero but a good natured hustler and dedicated dad. Oscar lived in a culture and climate that brought him/it into conflict with a police that simply went overboard with Oscar and fellow revelers who were returning to Oakland from San Francisco and a night of partying on NY's eve.
The heavy handed police turned a simple incident into a major conflict. The "bad guys" appear to be the police--this one looked a lot like a Nazi, a reincarnation from the past and Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
WHAT IS A LIFE WORTH? I surely don't know but if there is any sort of "take away" from this tragedy, (not depicted in the movie), it is the settlement that Oscar's daughter received, payments until
she is thirty. This is something Oscar would like. God bless her.
Will this movie improve race relations in America. I doubt it but it surely should impact those of us who care.
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