ESPN’s 30 for 30 sets the bar high consistently for excellent and informative sports documentaries and they’ve done no differently here. Their latest installment, O.J.: Made in America is one of the greatest documentaries ever made. This riveting 7 and a half hours miniseries has not only shattered a ceiling of expectations but surpassed mine and the audiences. Director Ezra Edelman shows viewers O.J.’s life story among the juxtaposition of his achievement of the American dream in his sports career and celebrity, to what his life later becomes an American nightmare with the media circus that came as a result of allegedly killing his second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Often what we see portrayed in the media is not who a person really is as the media can alter our perceptions as viewers causing us to feel that we may truly never know these men or women we idolize, with O.J. Simpson being the prime example.
(Photo credit: M. Osterreicher/Courtesy of ESPN Films)
O.J.: Made in America made its debut at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. As a festival participant, I was not very interested to see the film because I felt like O.J. Simpson and the murder trial were subjects that had been overly used throughout the years, through speculative documentaries and drama fare such as in this past winter’s American Crime Story on FX. Once ESPN started airing trailers for the series, I became intrigued and decided to watch and I’m glad I did. This documentary digs deeper than I would ever have expected and examines race, celebrity glorification, murder, and quite frankly humanity, in such a way that once you finish the miniseries, you’ll be inspired to re-examine your own admiration for celebrities. For years, O.J. was the ideal celebrity. The picture painted by the media was he was a wholesome family man, an all-time great football player, actor, and business man. When in reality, O.J. was a narcissistic, domestic abuser, who was given a pass way too often, which ultimately led to him allegedly committing murder in 1994.
For years, O.J. was the ideal celebrity. The picture painted by the media was he was a wholesome family man, an all-time great football player, actor, and business man. When in reality, O.J. was a narcissistic, domestic abuser, who was given a pass way too often, which ultimately led to him allegedly committing murder in 1994.
The brutal realization about O.J. Simpson is that he, as seen in the early parts of the documentary, felt as he was above race. He wasn’t Black. He wasn’t White. He was O.J. Despite his ideology, when it came down to a courtroom and his life, being Black, not being O.J. is what may have helped him receive a not guilty verdict in 1995. The miniseries touches upon the crimes against African Americans in the early 90s, including the attack of Rodney King. Many jurors from O.J.’s trial were interviewed, with one in particular, claiming that O.J. was found not guilty as payback for the acquittal of four White officers in the Rodney King trial. It’s upsetting to know that O.J.’s two victims did not receive justice or the respect they should have had during that trial.
What follows after the trial is a man who got away with murder and had no issue making a mockery of it, including writing a book about how “he would do it” along with an unwanted confession about that night to his agent and his ghostwriters. Closing out the documentary, viewers see his life coming full circle with his current stint in jail. Ending in an impactful manner, you hear O.J. comment about how he wants to be remembered for the good he was, not how he is today.
O.J. Simpson is truly an example of the American Dream and the American Nightmare. A man who felt he was above it all, and in the end lost everything. Director Ezra Edelman deserves a tremendous amount of praise for his work here, and if eligible, O.J.: Made in America should be in serious consideration for an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
