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.

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

At the time, I didn't understand the fascination with the O.J. Simpson trial. I remember the weird slow-speed police chase of the bronco, which was so peculiar that I couldn't stop watching, but after that I never watched the trial, or read news of the trial, because I barely new who Simpson was and I thought of it as just some salacious celebrity murder case. I had no doubt Simpson was guilty - I mean, he'd gone on the run and been chased down by the cops! - but I didn't have any interest in the process of his being convicted, didn't care about Kato Kaelin or Judge Ito, or any of that.

Then he got off, and it turned out that the case was a huge one about the shocking difference in how white and black America saw U.S. justice.

This documentary puts that trial in context. First, it explains why Simpson was so beloved, portraying his phenomenal sports success and his subsequent celebrity career. It also puts the trial in the context both of the Rodney King beating and of a case I'd never heard of where an Asian woman got no jail time for shooting a black girl in the back of the head.

For white people like me, this was a simple case of a celebrity who savagely murdered his ex. But viewed through the lens of a justice system that seemed built entirely for white people, the trial was something else entirely, and Simpson's pricey lawyers took advantage of that.

The full story of Simpson, from his glory days to his final fall, is like a Shakespeare tragedy, with a shining hero undone by his own darkness. It can also be seen as the story of a cold-stone psychopath who was given a pass for continually beating his wife simply because he was a celebrity with a winning smile.

An excellent documentary, and also a perfect companion piece for the recent TV miniseries, The People vs. O.J. Simpson: An American Crime Story. Between the two, I have now learned a great deal about a case I had no interest in while it was happening.

This is one of the best documentaries i have ever seen. After recently watching the "not as good" "The People vs OJ Simpson" with John Travolta and Cuba Gooding Jr. This documentary was definitely a breath of fresh air.

The depth of it, the attention to all the details, the interviews, the massive amount of research that has gone into it. It is massive, to make this documentary is a tremendous undertaking, and is nothing but outstanding. It manages to keep you nailed to your seat for almost 8 hours, you sit and watch as you shake your head in disbelief. This documentary is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Even though most of us have heard about this story time and time again, and made up our minds years ago, the documentary gives you a new fresh look at things, you start from the very beginning. We follow OJ all the way back to when he started to become noticed as a good football player, and we follow him all the way to his fall from the top of the mountain.

The documentary does not take sides, which would be a terrible decision for any director to pursue, so after you have seen it, you have the ability to make up your own mind. Did OJ do it? Or did he not? I was never in doubt he was guilty of killing his wife and her friend, and this documentary didn't strengthen my opinion or weaken it, but it made me feel so sorry for Nicole Simpson and what she had been through, it is truly heartbreaking. I sit her and feel i wish i could go back in time and save her.

All the beatings, the abuse and the terror she had to endure through the years, she was the mother of his children, and was slaughtered as a pig, left to bleed out alongside her friend who were also bleeding out. And the guy who did it, got away free with murder. Horrible, just horrible.

The documentary does not filter this by censuring crime scene photos, no it shows them in close ups. To see what rage a person must have felt the moment he slices a woman's throat right in to her neck while she is still alive.

Now this is graphic, it is, but i think the documentary does it right by showing this to us. This is about the trial of the century, where a famous man faces the most famous justice system in the world. Will this justice system judge him based on the evidence?. Well most of us already know the outcome.

But why did this end the way it did?. There are details we have never seen or heard before, there are people that has not been able to speak out properly, this documentary has gathered key people from OJ's life all the way back to his childhood, and it builds an image of him, detailed, slowly, but never boring, it shows us who OJ really was, and how he became that way.

All the years after the murder of his wife, and OJ did nothing to find "the real killer". He was laughing and dancing, he had custody of his children, he lived a good life in a very nice house, and lived the dream as most others can't even dream of.

Watching all these clips of him, doing all this, and celebrating life as it was himself that was the god of it all, made me feel deeply sad for Nicole. If only someone had prevented this, if only someone could have done something.

I can never get those images of Nicole and Ron's crime scene photos out of my head. But i had to see them to feel how i do now.

Amazing documentary, highly recommended, both for those who know about the case and followed it, and for those who know nothing about it. See it, learn from it, and take in that this can actually happen.

My verdict is : 10/10

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.