OJ: Made in America (2016)
"Even in this era of “Peak TV,” it’s rare to see something as essential and momentous as ESPN’s “OJ: Made in America". Ezra Edelman’s stunningly ambitious, eight-hour documentary is a masterpiece, a refined piece of investigative journalism that places the subject it illuminates into the broader context of the end of the 20th"
As broadcast, “OJ: Made in America” is split up into five parts. The first part plays like a relatively straightforward “30 For 30,” the ESPN brand that has delivered fantastic sports documentary filmmaking. It focuses on the rise of OJ Simpson, becoming a household name at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1968.
The second part of “OJ: Made in America” chronicles the instantly-tumultuous relationship between OJ and Nicole Brown. A friend says that her pants were ripped after her first date with OJ and that she said that “he got a little rough.” At this point, Edelman pivots to a story of how celebrity can let people get away with domestic abuse, while also focusing on the state of race relations in Los Angeles in the ‘80s and ‘90s. As the relationship between the Los Angeles Police Department and minorities in L.A. continued to heat up, Rodney King became the international example of the violence cops were inflicting on black people, and, eventually and more importantly, injustice. If you’re wondering how or why Rodney King’s beating plays a role in “OJ: Made in America,” know that one of the jurors in Simpson’s trial later states that she let OJ go as revenge for Rodney King.
Of course, the third and fourth part of “OJ: Made in America” is devoted to the trial, and they do an incredible job of distilling it to essential beats, with notable contributions by Marcia Clark, Gil Garcetti, two jurors and several witnesses, including some of OJ Simpson’s friends, all of whom either at that point or today admit that he did it.
The final part of “OJ: Made in America” is the only one in which I can find the slightest flaw in that I wish it was a bit longer. After being acquitted, OJ Simpson lost his exalted status. He was no longer allowed in the country clubs at which he was formerly the only black member. He was yelled at everywhere he went, essentially descended into a life of drugs and violence, which would result in his conviction for armed robbery. But he was always obsessed with his image. There’s an incredible scene in which OJ is taking down the flag at Rockingham, getting emotional and then pushing the camera away as if a paparazzi had snuck onto the grounds. It was staged. Any footage of OJ at the time could be sold to TMZ for a pretty penny and Simpson was making money with a buddy, even as his world was crashing around him
To understand OJ, we have to understand how much of his life was influenced by what he showed us in the world of celebrity and how we responded to it as a society. “OJ: Made in America” should be a conversation-starter, a way to discuss what happened in the ‘80s and ‘90s in terms of race and celebrity and what it says about today. OJ’s story may be over. Ours is not.
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