It’s New Year’s Eve 2009. Oscar, a young man with a daughter and a troubled past, is planning a series of celebrations. His mother’s birthday is December 31 and he’s going with his friends and girlfriend to San Francisco afterwards to watch the fireworks at midnight. A cascade of bad events falls upon Oscar the last day of the year, but he’s hopeful that a train ride for New Year’s will be the start of a better life.
Fruitvale Station is based on a recent true crime story put to rest by cellphones. Bystanders at the scene of the crime recorded everything that happened. Without cellphones, the case might not have been resolved and it definitely would not have received the attention needed to begin major safety reforms to a public transportation system.
Writer/director Ryan Coogler hitches Fruitvale Station to cellphone technology.