O.J.: Made in America

ESPN tackles the subject of O.J. Simpson in an in-depth documentary start from his football career to his L.A. life to the trial and finally his conviction in a different case. After the compelling American Crime Story, this is a great way to provide the context. This is not simply a sports doc or a doc about the trial. This digs into the pervasive racism in the LAPD and the history of race conflicts in the area. It's also very in-depth in its examination of O.J.'s personality. This doc lays it all out very well. The trial itself is less in-depth but it's interesting in a couple of ways. There are two of the jurors as well as a harrowing explanation and pictures of the crime scene. They really bring out more reality out of the trial. This fills out everything surrounding the case. The ACS is a fun pseudo-reality drama. This doc is great at filling out the actual reality.

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 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

Well is it the final chapter? I seriously doubt it. We all must have seen numerous documentaries about OJ and what happened or didn't happen and we all have our own version of what we think happened. Some older people (like me) may remember watching this as it happened and some may have caught up after the fact but it's still a fascinating watch.

This is as comprehensive as it gets, and at seven and a half hours does cover it very comprehensively. I did it in three instalments and never got bored on any occasion. It was factual, with actual footage of the trail, and is updated with commentary provided by many who were involved.

I'm not gonna take sides and slam or praise anyone but be assured, you will. No matter how you think things went down you will have a good guy and bad guy scenario and like me you will become a little louder than normal.

Well worth a watch even though it takes a while.

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.