Review of O.J.: Made in America (2016) by Andres R — 15 Jun 2017

"Riveting and simply extraordinary, "O.J.: Made in America" is one of the very best films from last year".

Movie Review: O.J.: Made in America.

Date Viewed: March 26-27 2017.

Directed By Ezra Edelman.

Starring: O.J. Simpson, Nicole Brown, Marcia Clark, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, Fred Goldman, Gil Garcetti, Bill Hodgman, Carl E. Douglas, F. Lee Bailey, Barry Scheck, Mark Fuhrman, Peter Hyams, David Zucker, Clarence C.J. Stewart, Charles Cashmore, Charles Ehrlich, Walter Mosley, Michael McClinton and Thomas Riccio.

Ezra Edelman's "O.J.: Made in America" unfolds itself as not a documentary which it is but as an American saga that involves race relations, sports, celebrity and the United States itself. The O.J. Simpson not guilty verdict not only send shockwaves around the world, it also set open a racial divide over the white people who thought he was guilty and the black people who thought he was not guilty. The O.J. story spread like wildfire again because of the FX miniseries "The People vs. O.J. Simpson" and this film which is about seven and a half hours long.

O.J. Simpson seemed to have it all until he committed the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown and his friend Ronald Goldman. Thanks to a perfect legal dream team led by Robert Shapiro, Robert Kardashian and Johnnie Cochran, he was acquitted but a year later he was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman so he was forced to pay the Goldman family a settlement of $33.5 million but the Goldmans never received a penny from Simpson.

However, 12 years after he was acquitted of the murders, O.J. Simpson was in trouble again this time for armed robbery and kidnapping. Simpson was trying to get back some of his memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel but that only led to him getting arrested. Simpson was found guilty and he was sentenced to 33 years in prison and what the hell was he thinking of?

"O.J.: Made in America" not only explores the vast cornerstones of O.J. Simpson's life, it also explores the racial tension between the African-American community and the Los Angeles Police Department. The blacks were being treated very unfairly by the L.A. police department for years and they cited the O.J. verdict as revenge for the Rodney King beatings and the many years of racial hatred against blacks. Through a series of interviews, news footage and secret audio recordings, "O.J.: Made in America" traces the life and career of the ex-football hero turned accused murderer through his time at the University of Southern California were Simpson first rose to prominence as a college football star.

After winning the Heisman trophy, Simpson later joined the NFL where he became a football hero and beat Jim Brown's 2000 yards mark. After retiring from the sport he loved, Simpson went on to date and marry his wife, Nicole Brown and he focused more on his TV pitchman skills and his film and television career. What's surprising about Simpson is that he never talked about racial issues or arguments, he just wanted to be his own man. What's also strange about Simpson is that during the 80s he interacted more with whites than he did with blacks.

Then of course came the Nicole beatings, she became frightened and fearful of O.J. because he might one day kill her. The two of them separated for a while but Nicole still felt like a prisoner to O.J. because he was constantly following her everywhere she went. The two eventually got back together because Nicole believed that O.J. was a changed man but sadly their reconciliation didn't last long. She left him for good but it made O.J. angry and it probably what many people to believe caused him to commit the murders of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman on June 13 1994.

The tragic chapter of Simpson's life began to unfold beginning with the amazingly unbelievable Bronco chase on the Los Angeles freeway to the infamous glove to the intense media coverage and to Cochran's famous "If it doesn't fit, then you must acquit" quote. "O.J.: Made in America" is an extraordinary piece of work from Ezra Edelman as he gives us interviews with the people who knew him or despised him. These people range from the Goldman family to close friends to L.A. investigators to members of Simpson's defense team (F. Lee Bailey, Carl E. Douglas and Barry Scheck) to key prosecutors such as Marcia Clark and Gil Garcetti to key witnesses and movie directors who've worked with him such as Peter Hyams and David Zucker.

I'm sure many of you will complain about the running time of this picture but the length doesn't matter to me. What really matters is that "O.J.: Made in America" is riveting and simply extraordinary. It is one of the very best films from last year.