When you watch this movie, you feel like you have watched it before, only to discover that you actually haven’t. That feeling is because it is about a topic that you would think is no longer an issue. It is about racism.
It is so moving, if you are the emotional type, it might make you tear. The worst bit is that it is based on a true story, making it harder to keep the tears back. It features Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a struggling young family man. He has been in and out of prison a number of times for one thing or another. When his mother tells him she will not visit him in prison again, he gets in shape and starts to clean out the mess in his life. He loses his job just when rent is due and the temptation to do drugs has never been stronger.
Together with his leave-in girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz) and daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal), they take a break from the troubles of their life to attend Oscar’s mother’s birthday a few hours to the New Year. Later in the night, the couple goes out to celebrate and they get into a scuffle that goes bad because they are black people who have been arrested by white policemen.
It is full of painful suspense which makes the movie griping. I like that it doesn’t have foul language that is the case with many ‘black American gang’ movies. But the thing about movies based on true stories is that it is hard to rate the acting. Nonetheless, you will enjoy this.
