O.J.: Made in America is a five-part documentary produced by ESPN and released in 2016. Each part runs approximately an hour and a half. As a whole, it tells of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, from his childhood growing up in the projects of San Fransisco, his excellent college career at USC, his professional football career, his life outside of football, of course, the murder of his ex-wife and friend and the resulting trial, his post-trial life, and ends with his arrest in Las Vegas for armed robbery and kidnapping. Within that, it also tells the story of the LA police department and the interaction with the black community which is essential to understanding why the trial played out as it did.
The series gives a raw, uncensored look at OJ's life, revealing the parts that he really tried to keep hidden, and shows that he was basically an arrogant, abusive, womanizing jackass who used whomever he could, yet managed to be so charming and charismatic that even the people being used had a hard time cutting themselves free from him and seeing him for what he is. The last two parts really focusing on the trial itself, and what an s-show it really was all around. One of the more interesting things was seeing the finger-pointing between the defense attorneys, the prosecution, and the police, between not only the other sides but oftentimes on their own side. A couple of the jurors also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. One of who basically said she thought the prosecution really failed to prove their case, with the colossal blunder of Chris Darden (whom she thought was in over his head and only brought in at the last minute because he was black (which the DA basically admitted) of having O.J try on the gloves in court. While another juror admitted she was always going to find him innocent as "revenge" for Rodney King, the black motorist who was nearly beaten to death by a group of LA cops who were later acquitted when tried for the beating. The documentary went over some of the mistakes that were made by the prosecution, the judge, and the brazen crap that the defense was allowed to get away with. You also hear how people who knew OJ, including his former friends, and former agent (to whom O.J. basically admitted he was guilty to) come to the realization that he was guilty, while others maintain he could have never committed murder. It is also interesting to see how the defense attorneys who agreed to be interviewed put their spin on things, with Barry Sheck twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid answering the question of whether he actually believed the blood evidence was planted or tainted. I have always found it ironic that a guy that did everything he could to turn his back on the black community, was never shy about referring to poor blacks using the n-word, actually palled around with LA police officers, and was treated with kid gloves by the police both before the murders and during the murder investigation was let off the hook by jurors who (at least some) wanted to stick it to the LA police and court system that had screwed blacks for decades.
The set comes with three DVDs and two Blu-rays, each of which has the exact same content. There is a lot of swearing in the documentary and you see unedited crime scene photographs, including the pictures of the horrific neck wounds on both Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman as one of the prosecutors talked through how he believes the actual murders were carried out. So, it is definitely not something that you would want kids to see. For bonus material, there are a collection of ESPN shows in which O.J. was interviewed throughout the years.
Overall, it is a wonderful, eye-opening documentary. I think the fact that it did not just focus on the murder trial itself was good. It was definitely not a re-hash of everything else that had been produced about the trial and provided a lot of new information, even for people who, like me, watched a lot of the trial as it was going on. It is a great retrospective, and definitely worth watching.
The series gives a raw, uncensored look at OJ's life, revealing the parts that he really tried to keep hidden, and shows that he was basically an arrogant, abusive, womanizing jackass who used whomever he could, yet managed to be so charming and charismatic that even the people being used had a hard time cutting themselves free from him and seeing him for what he is. The last two parts really focusing on the trial itself, and what an s-show it really was all around. One of the more interesting things was seeing the finger-pointing between the defense attorneys, the prosecution, and the police, between not only the other sides but oftentimes on their own side. A couple of the jurors also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. One of who basically said she thought the prosecution really failed to prove their case, with the colossal blunder of Chris Darden (whom she thought was in over his head and only brought in at the last minute because he was black (which the DA basically admitted) of having O.J try on the gloves in court. While another juror admitted she was always going to find him innocent as "revenge" for Rodney King, the black motorist who was nearly beaten to death by a group of LA cops who were later acquitted when tried for the beating. The documentary went over some of the mistakes that were made by the prosecution, the judge, and the brazen crap that the defense was allowed to get away with. You also hear how people who knew OJ, including his former friends, and former agent (to whom O.J. basically admitted he was guilty to) come to the realization that he was guilty, while others maintain he could have never committed murder. It is also interesting to see how the defense attorneys who agreed to be interviewed put their spin on things, with Barry Sheck twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid answering the question of whether he actually believed the blood evidence was planted or tainted. I have always found it ironic that a guy that did everything he could to turn his back on the black community, was never shy about referring to poor blacks using the n-word, actually palled around with LA police officers, and was treated with kid gloves by the police both before the murders and during the murder investigation was let off the hook by jurors who (at least some) wanted to stick it to the LA police and court system that had screwed blacks for decades.
The set comes with three DVDs and two Blu-rays, each of which has the exact same content. There is a lot of swearing in the documentary and you see unedited crime scene photographs, including the pictures of the horrific neck wounds on both Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman as one of the prosecutors talked through how he believes the actual murders were carried out. So, it is definitely not something that you would want kids to see. For bonus material, there are a collection of ESPN shows in which O.J. was interviewed throughout the years.
Overall, it is a wonderful, eye-opening documentary. I think the fact that it did not just focus on the murder trial itself was good. It was definitely not a re-hash of everything else that had been produced about the trial and provided a lot of new information, even for people who, like me, watched a lot of the trial as it was going on. It is a great retrospective, and definitely worth watching.
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