'Fruitvale Station' is more relevant now than ever before

Fruitvale Station

In the wake of the controversial police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American from Ferguson, Missouri, a lot folks are drawing parallels between his story and that of slain teen Trayvon Martin.

However, an even more similar scenario might arguably be that of Oscar Grant, a young man who was killed on New Year's Day in 2009.

Not unlike Brown, Grant was an imperfect person who may have been involved in activities that would warrant an arrest.

But the fact remains that Grant didn't need to die for his sins, which were largely innocuous.

Last year, Grant was the subject of one of the most compelling, moving and sadly overlooked movies of the summer season: Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station.

Starring Michael B. Jordan, in an Oscar-caliber performance that should cement his status as a leading man for years to come, as Grant -- the movie retraces the Oakland man's final hours before he was tragically slain by an overzealous BART officer.

The movie is a taut masterpiece. Clocking it at under 90 minutes, not a single scene or moment is wasted and for me, it is a compelling testament to the importance of human life, and more specifically every human life.

See, Oscar Grant was no saint. The movie suggests he was a drug dealer and, at best, an inconsistent presence as a father to his young daughter. And yet the film also suggests he was bright, warm, charming, thoughtful and sincere.

Over the course of Coogler's incredibly realistic film, you get to know Grant and even care about him. You come to understand that he matters to people. His girlfriend, his friends, his daughter and his family all are connected to him, even if sometimes he drives them nuts sometimes.

Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station

And so when the film reaches its inevitable, tragic conclusion -- it floors you. I am not ashamed to admit this film had me sobbing on first viewing.

It's so rare that a film, or any work of art, makes you really feel what it's like to lose someone. I've been lucky in that regard.

I've never lost anyone incredibly close to me. I can't imagine what that's like. But Fruitvale Station makes that feeling accessible and real.

This should not deter anyone form seeing the film. Like I've written before, challenging movies are often the best ones, and we shouldn't be afraid to experience a film because its subject matter might be difficult or emotionally intimidating.

As the nation watches the Michael Brown story unfold in Ferguson, it might be worth a revisit of this remarkable film and its subject matter -- the late Oscar Grant. Just like Brown, Grant was vilified and marginalized by a small but vociferous group of people who sought to justify his death. And yet when you look at the facts of the case, and the story which is presented by the film Fruitvale Station, the proof is incontrovertible that Grant did not need or deserve to die.

We still don't know all the facts about Michael Brown's demise and it may be premature to turn him into some kind of martyr of gun violence or a symbol of a racially insensitive criminal justice system. All we can do in the short term is watch the developments out of Ferguson and listen and judge for ourselves.

But we should also all not forget that he was someone's son, someone's brother or nephew -- a person of value who brought joy and love into the lives of someone. And so we should never be glib or detached from his demise. Because every life matters.