‘OJ: Made in America’: The definitive documentary about OJ Simpson
Originally known for his prowess as an American football star, OJ Simpson‘s life was wrapped up in the very fabric of American cultural consciousness. Simpson was involved in a highly-publicised trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994, and while the former football player was used to life in the spotlight, this new kind of attention was something he had not expected.
The ‘Trial of the Century’ – as it was called at the time – featured several celebrity witnesses, and amid the intense scrutiny of the media and racial public tension, Simpson became a polarising figure. Several works of film and television have captured the drama that unfolded during the trial, but few are as impressive as Ezra Edelman’s five-part documentary OJ: Made in America.
Rather than merely telling the story of Simpson, Edelman’s documentary also managed to detail the impact of his trial on society. However, he begins at the start of Simpson’s public life, from his rise to glory as an NFL star to his transition into a notorious Hollywood celebrity and onto the controversial trial in which Simpson was acquitted of murder despite the overwhelming evidence against him.
Simpson had been a marker of African American success and a symbol of the American dream, whereby hard work and dedication could lead to the accrual of fame and wealth. However, OJ: Made in America tapped into the privilege that Simpson was afforded as a result of his celebrity status and how it protected him from being accountable for his actions. Edelman painted him as a man of public complexity, at once loved and hated by his fans and critics.
In addition, the documentary, in the same manner as Errol Morris’ legendary 1988 film The Thin Blue Line, served as a critique of the intricacies of the American justice system and showed how external factors like race and fame can have an impact on the proceedings of a trial. Looking into the broader context of the Civil Rights Movement and the history of racial discrimination, particularly in Los Angeles, Made in America arrived as a crucial piece of film that unflinchingly dived headfirst into the most problematic of topics.
In that light, Edelman’s film managed to avoid becoming a dogmatic, one-sided view of the OJ Simpson trial and rather asked its viewers to come to their own moral and legal conclusions whilst also opening them up to the broader philosophical and historical questions about race and justice. Audience members with their own biases could, in turn, challenge them and assess how their former opinions of Simpson might have changed with newfound information.
The Simpson trial became one of the most significant cultural events in recent American history and showed our deepest fascination with true crime, particularly when it involves a defendant of high-profile. However, OJ: Made in America is far more than just a document of the trial itself; it is rather a crucial work that explores the signs of the times and the history of racial justice in the United States.
There’s a deep portrait of one of the most controversial figures in American sport and entertainment, one that seems capable of simultaneously celebrating and condemning him, resulting in a wholly unbiased work that revaluates the complexities of justice. For anyone interested in Simpson or in American law, Edelman’s film is absolutely essential viewing.
OJ Simpson was confirmed dead at the age of 76 by his family on April 11th, 2024.
Check out the trailer for OJ: Made in America below.
