O.J.: Made in America (2016)

**** out of ****

I generally stay away from ESPN documentaries because I have found them to be very superficial; they touch on all the obvious points but don't delve into their subjects to uncover anything new. When I saw EPSN's 30 for 30 did a documentary on OJ Simpson, I never even considered watching it for that very reason. But when this movie won an Oscar last month for “Best Documentary Feature” I decided to give it a chance.

Man, am I ever glad I did. The best and most important documentary I've ever seen is 1985's “Shoah” about the Holocaust. It was some 11 hours long and, at least for what it wanted to do, the length was totally justified. “O.J.: Made in America” is every bit as comprehensive.... even sometimes more than we want or are comfortable with. But it is excellent, and almost as good as "Shoah" (if not nearly as important).

O.J. Has always fascinated me. When I was in grammar school, right around the time he retired, I found a “sports heroes” book that, among many other sports achievements, chronicled his 2003-yard rushing season for the Buffalo Bills. I saw him star in “The Towering Inferno” and “Capricorn One” on TV. I went to “The Naked Gun” movies at the theatre. I can't remember a time when I didn't know who OJ Simpson was..... and when he murdered his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, I found it every bit as shocking as everyone else.

I'm almost embarrassed by how closely I followed his trial. When it was over, I knew for a fact that he was guilty, despite all the smoke and mirrors tossed up by his defense team. And I remember the verdict. I was sitting in a waiting room before a job interview when the verdict was announced, and I stumbled into the interview in total shock that he was not convicted (and I didn't get the job).

“O. J.: Made in America” does more than just rehash the trial. It's an eight hour journey that follows OJ from childhood, to his rise to being one of the most famous men in America through to his eventual incarceration in 2008 for armed robbery and kidnapping. But even more than that, it spends a lot of time examining the divide between black and white in the Los Angeles area. OJ's rise as a college football star happened very shortly after the Watts riots, he became well known during the worst events of the civil rights movement (especially the death of Martin Luther King and the LAPD shooting of Eulia Love), and his fame continued as the buildup of tension in LA peaked. Rodney King and the LA riots all happened shortly before the OJ murders and trial, and the documentary tells all the relevant stories in parallel.

While much of this might seem unconnected to those that weren't around at the time, it was all very much tied together. When OJ's trial went to jury, the divide in the opinion of black and white was a chasm – just about every white person believed him guilty and wanted him jailed for life, and just about every black person believed he had been framed by the LAPD and wanted him freed. There were massive fears of another riot if he was convicted. And there was shock and numbness, as well as celebration and jubilation, when he was exonerated.

The film has five separate chapters – the first two cover OJ's youth, football and movie careers, and examine his life up to the murders. They pull no punches and show OJ to be at the same time a charismatic guy with a lot of positive attributes as well as a man who was terribly self obsessed and abusive to the women in his life. The third chapter covers the murder and beginning of the trial, the fourth spends its time entirely on the trial, and the last on the verdict, aftermath and OJ's life after the trial. Due to it's length, there are times that the story drags a little, but for the most part is endlessly fascinating.

You need to brace yourself at times for the crime scene photos. They are gruesome and disturbing. The pictures showing Nicole's slashed throat caused me to turn away. But these moments are few, and important to the story to show how brutal the murders were. The filmmakers (happily) never suggest anything about OJ's “innocence”; they tell the facts and treat OJ as “guilty as hell”, which he clearly was. They treat the defense team with moderate disdain, even to the point of having the courtroom story told by prosecutor Marcia Clark where a little girls asked her mother “What is the “N” word the defense keeps saying should never be mentioned”. And the mother's reply, “Nicole.”

You can watch the entire five episodes for free at the link below. I recommend it - it is worth the 8 hour investment:  

OJ: Made in America