O.J.: Made in America

A blistering and engrossing documentary about the O.J. Simpson murder trial that explores how the sensational event became a symbol for the racial tension that was just waiting to boil over in Los Angeles in particular and the United States in general.

I was in college when the O.J. story happened, and I only half paid attention to it at the time, so it was fascinating for me to watch this film that seemed like a new version of an old story. The film makes no attempt to hide the filmmakers' opinion that the innocent verdict in the case was a gross miscarriage of justice, but I have to admit that, though I've always believed O.J. was guilty too, I would probably have acquitted him myself as a juror based on the dismal way the prosecution handled the case.

But the grossest outrage about the whole event -- I felt it at the time and I felt it again watching the movie -- is that the murders that made the whole trial necessary in the first place were forgotten amid the racial baiting and the defense's willingness to capitalize on the emotions of an angry and disenfranchised black community.

A seven-hour documentary may sound daunting at the beginning, but I challenge you not to binge watch it.

Winner of the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, a complete no brainer of a win.

Grade: A

Watching a 7.5-hour long documentary about a case we all think we know may seem a daunting task at first, but trust me: you'll have a very hard time to resist the urge to binge watch the whole mini series once you've started. This documentary (which to me felt like a seven-and-a-half-hour feature film) is - in my humble opinion - one of the greatest achievements in American filmmaking and utterly captivating from the beginning to the end.

Where the equally brilliant but fictional series 'The Wire' took the topic of crime as a means to cast a look at all aspects and social layers of a whole city (Baltimore), 'O.J.: Made in America' examines the life and crimes of a single man (albeit one leading a very public life) to cast a very close look at American society as a whole, and the result is the most complete, in-depth analysis of the divided nation's collective psyche I have ever seen.

The portrait that emerges is so fascinating and so revealing and educational (and I hate to admit: thrillingly entertaining) that I believe this should be recommended viewing in schools and colleges across the country. And if you think: "Meh, I know that story, it's been all over the news - not interested", think again. Trust me, you do not know this story (or better: these stories). And there's a big chance you'll understand a great deal more about America once you've finished watching this masterpiece.

I know I'm dishing out superlatives here, but it's like director Ezra Edelman made the ultimate documentary - perhaps even the ultimate film. 'O.J.: Made in America' functions on so many levels; it's like watching a whole collection of films where the same protagonist inexplicably lives through a wide array of very different stories (which somehow STILL manage to end up as ONE cohesive tale). Just to give you an impression how rich this documentary is, I tried to count the stories and most dominant themes and found at least 10 (although you could probably find more):

1. There's the fascinating story of a poor kid from the ghetto rising through sheer will and enormous talent to become an American icon and superstar.

2. There's a great - and uplifting - sport story (especially for Football fans) that is usually the material of Hollywood films.

3. There's the very human drama of a genuine love story turning into an abusive relationship plagued by domestic violence.

4. There's the mesmerizing and shocking murder mystery;

5. the thrilling courtroom drama;

6. a razor-sharp satire about our and our media's unhealthy fixation on celebrities;

7. an unbelievable, surreal story of a nationwide man-hunt that gives Spielberg's 'Sugarland Express' a run for its money;

8. a close examination of the U.S. judicial system;

9. the story of the rise and the very, very steep fall of a man who had it all and lost everything;

10. an eye-opening story about race relations in America over the past 50 years

And as incredible as it may seem, those stories are all real.

The way Edelman managed to put them all together to forge this groundbreaking documentary can't be praised enough. A unique experience. 10 stars out of 10.

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

A detailed view of the life of the infamous O.J. Simpson starting with his NFL carrier and his rise to an American icon to his downfall caused by one night in 1994. An excellent documentary series executed to perfection.

There are many documentaries out there- particularly on Netflix- that are just far too long. I can understand why, because owing to the way streaming services work, it's surely tempting to extend a documentary beyond the standard two-ish hours into a multi-part 6-10 hour miniseries, because that keeps viewers hooked into whatever service they're subscribed to. In all honesty, I'm personally a little tired of this approach, particularly because I think most subjects can be thoroughly explored within the length of a movie, if the director and editor and everyone else involved know what they're doing.

This naturally made me very cautious to watch OJ: Made In America, despite how critically acclaimed it was. While it was released in a very limited theatrical release- and won an Oscar for Best Documentary before the Academy changed their rules to disqualify lengthy works broken into parts- it did look to me like it would be another true crime miniseries that would draw itself out longer than necessary. Furthermore, I was worried it would be tacky and disrespectful the way many documentary miniseries are; if you're teasing and using real life tragic events as cliffhangers or hooks for viewers, for example, I think that's pretty twisted.

Thankfully, OJ: Made In America managed to transcend all of its similar contemporaries. This is miles better than something like Making A Murderer or any other show trying to chase its success; it goes in depth and uses its incredibly long runtime to tell a huge story and cover many, many topics in gripping and compelling detail. It's much more than a story about the double murder that OJ Simpson was accused of committing, and it's even more than just a documentary about OJ Simpson. The hint's in the title: it uses the story of Simpson to tell a huge, almost epic story about crime, race relations, and societal conflict throughout the last few decades of history.

It's hard to unpack everything, but you will find something interesting and intensely thought provoking within this documentary. It's not so much about trying to prove whether Simpson committed the crime or not, and moreso just giving as many points of view, opinions, and insights as possible. It's superbly edited, and flows in a way where despite all the information, you never get lost or confused. And furthermore, despite the risk of information overload, you never really get bored either. Despite watching this in chunks, I could have happily digested the entire seven and a half hours in one sitting, and if I ever rewatch it one day maybe I will view it in that way.

It's hard to come up with too many flaws. I'm conflicted over the use of graphic crime scene and autopsy photos in Part 4 of the documentary- some viewers may not understand the intensity and viciousness of the murder with verbal descriptions alone, but I feel like some people are appropriately disturbed with just picturing the aftermath in their head, and for those people, seeing the images themselves may feel like overkill. As such, I understand why those photos were included, but personally don't feel like I needed to be exposed to them. And I mean, could it have been six and a half hours instead of seven and a half? It's almost silly to think about that as a flaw, so I'm not sure it is, but at the same time... maybe it could've got more or less the same thing across?

I guess I'm struggling to think of flaws, or justify why I got this to 9/10 but not 10/10. On a rewatch, I may realise that this is about as good as documentaries can get, and raise the rating. For now, I can say that it's truly excellent and among the best documentaries I've ever seen, regardless of whether you choose to watch it as a miniseries or an extremely long feature.

Regardless of your thoughts on OJ Simpson and the infamous court case he was involved in, you will find things to appreciate, fixate on, and ponder throughout this incredibly impressive and borderline 'epic' documentary.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"O.J.: Made in America" (2016) was without a doubt one of the very best documentaries I've ever seen, maybe even actually the best one - and i saw a few to say the least.

Although i do not live in America, i knew about some of these events before seen "O.J.: Made in America" (2016). It did not surprise me that at the end of this amazing documentary i end up almost seemingly seen a chapter from America's history, because it took for this series almost 8 hours to do it. What i was surprised about is that i couldn't imagine at the beginning that it was going to be done so convincingly great and crystal clear.

"O.J.: Made in America" features 5 episodes that all runs for almost 8 hours. But let this not scare you if kinda thinking to see it - i can't remember when the last time i was so absorb when watching a documentary.

"O.J" himself is shown here at center of events. Basically it is a biopic about his life, but at the same time if features events in Los Angeles that were surrounding him before and at the time of his (in)famous case. And all of this was shown in a very crystal clear fashion - i literally couldn't put this series down until its final frame.

Overall, "O.J.: Made in America" is magnificent look at the America's history. At the center of the event is "O.J." himself and its a fascinating look at the true American tragedy as one person puts it. Definitely one of the very, very best documentaries ever made.