Cast (Parts One and Two):
Interviews and archival footage of various individuals:
Archival footage: O. J. Simpson, Marcus Allen, Muhammad Ali, Howard Cosell, Al Cowlings, Roy Firestone, Robert Kardashian, Daryl Gates, Nicole Brown Simpson, among others
Interview: Mike Albanese, Danny Bakewell, Joe Bell, Tanya Brown, Booker Edgerson, Harry Edwards, Peter Hyams, Walter Mosley, among others. Directed by Ezra Edelman.
Review:
“I could use that canvas to tell a deeper story about race in America, about the city of Los Angeles, the relationship between the black community and the police, and who O.J. was and his rise to celebrity. That’s the story I wanted to tell.”
I knew the film was going to be one for the ages when I heard of it being shown on television in 2016. O.J.: Made in America was produced and directed by Ezra Edelman for ESPN Films as part of their 30 for 30 series (started in 2009 as a series of documentary films that highlighted interesting moments and people in sports history). That series had done a documentary featuring footage of O.J. Simpson in 2010 with Brett Morgen that was called June 17, 1994, which chronicled the events of that day that happened to involve numerous sports events alongside the police chase of the famed football star that was comprised solely of footage of the time. However, there was still ideas to do a longer venture about Simpson, with Edelman being first asked about possibly being interested (which was pitched initially as a five-hour project). Edelman was born in Boston, Massachusetts to civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman and Georgetown professor Peter Edelman. After graduation from Yale University, he started work as a director and producer for sports documentaries with HBO Sports, debuting in the former category with Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (2010). He first rejected the idea because he thought there was nothing new to say about Simpson, but he later came around to the idea of doing the venture for something that could encompass more than just Simpson. The resulting film was done over the course of eighteen months with 72 interviews that was shown in two forms: theatrically on the festival circuit with intermissions (one or two depending on the festival) to account for a runtime of 467 minutes (almost eight hours) starting in early 2016 and on television in the summer of 2016 as a five-part miniseries; the DVD release that I have of the film includes the "Intermission" subtitle after the end of Part Two and Part Four, respectively (in essence, Part One and Two combined make a runtime of three hours, which is the same as the combined time of Parts Three and Four). I saw the film on its original television broadcast, but I wanted to wait until it felt right to give the film (the winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017) the proper review I felt it deserved. Seven years seems appropriate to return to this documentary and express my thoughts. Part One of O.J.: Made in America deals with the life of O.J. Simpson in his years as a football star (1965-1979) and the television presence that came with it that runs in parallel to the narrative of the city of Los Angeles within growing racial tension. Part Two covers the dissolution of his first marriage from Marguerite L. Whitley and his eventual marriage to Nicole Brown (who he had dated prior to his divorce) that saw children alongside Simpson pleading no contest to spousal abuse in 1989 and divorce in 1992. Basically, the football of Simpson takes the stage for the first part and his personal life takes the second part, with context running behind in tandem with each.
There have been numerous ways to tell the story of O.J. Simpson and the famous murder trial, obviously. The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a true crime anthology series based on a book by Jeffrey Toobin (interviewed later in this film, incidentally), premiered the very year of O.J.: Made in America came out. But this is a film that knows exactly how to pace oneself in the story of Simpson that has the benefit of archival footage of the man as people used to know him (a query letter written by Edelman to Simpson, by then incarcerated and approaching the age of 70, was left unanswered). Naturally, there is footage of others that knew Simpson in contemporary times or in the present-day here to go along with, one that shows Simpson and his triumphs (most notably the University of Southern California and the Buffalo Bills) that run in tandem with his reaction to the growing movement of the strong-principled black revolutionary athlete. Robert Lipsyte aptly describes O.J. in the film as essentially "the counterrevolutionary athlete white America is looking for." If one really thinks about it, the story of Simpson could also remind one of the Faustian bargain, since it seems that more than anything, he wanted fame (as quoted in one interview, he wanted people to say "hey, there goes OJ") and in return he traded his very soul. In essence, the first two parts remind the viewer of who Simpson was in the time before 1994 in all of its aspects: on and off of the camera; it also shares time on the city of Los Angeles before 1994 when it comes to the Watts riots of 1965 and the 1992 riots in the city that each sprung from tension of the city between black residents and the city's police department; one sees this from the reaction from the community to the release of the Rodney King beating tape and the murder of Latasha Harlins (the trial of the officers for excessive force on King resulting in a nonguilty verdict and a city-wide riot hours later). Regardless of how familiar one is of Simpson, Edelman presents a worthwhile canvas because it truly is necessary to know how the story of Simpson intertwines beyond the expectations one would expect. You see the many aspects of personality in Simpson from his ambition to his jealousy, one that might as well have had the talent to become a great actor with how he juggles the facade of having an actual conscience. Instead, the great television star fell at the risk of being a has-been with diminishing attention all because of himself, which certainly is ironic considering his desire of being not black but being O.J.
There are many fascinating voices to hear from when talking about Simpson or the city of Los Angeles, since he spent years living in the city in the neighborhood of Brentwood. You hear the voices of authority figures such as Mike Albanese, detailing the mood in some part of officers in the city within the riots that contrast with city residents such as novelist Walter Mosley or civil rights activists in Danny Bakewell. You hear from associates of Simpson such as childhood friend Joe Bell, who sets the stage of how Simpson grew to be the person that became Simpson in the housing projects of the Potrero Hill neighborhood in San Francisco in a family upbringing with an absent gay father, or with people that knew him during his marriage to Brown such as her sister Tanya that reveals the nature of Simpson beyond the public persona (which involved rage and jealousy, before and after the divorce); the use of footage with Brown shows her in the light that matters most: not simply listed as the wife of O.J. Simpson but a person with their own dreams and their own struggles that come out from the footage and diaries shown to us; the way we see domestic violence now as opposed to decades prior is made striking when it comes to the 1989 coverage of Simpson, made particularly clear with the interview of him with Roy Firestone. You see the differing perspectives of Simpson in regard to him as an athlete (such as from teammate Booker Edgerson) versus being an example of the socially aware black athlete (as noted by sociologist Harry Edwards and the aforementioned Lipsyte). You see the perspective of Simpson in his ascension to advertising pitchman and actor from people such as director Peter Hyams (who directed Simpson in Capricorn One in 1978) or Hertz Corporation chairman Frank Olson (whose company associated with Simpson for nearly two decades, even with the 1989 charges) when it comes to where Simpson's power worked when it came to being malleable for a consumer audience.
To list everyone would be to miss the point: you understand who O.J. Simpson was beyond the words that could always be used to describe him before 1994 and you understand the very nature of how that comes in parallel with Los Angeles of that time, where the burning of building in Los Angeles runs in parallel to the diminishing elements of Simpson's soul. One knows where the story will close itself by its opening shot with the Lovelock Correctional Center in the present day, but that doesn't mean the opening of the canvas of O.J. and others is diminished in fascinating quality.
The rating for this review will be displayed when the review is fully completed on February 28. Tomorrow is Parts Three and Four of O.J.: Made in America before the review is final, which will essentially make this the longest review in Movie Night history.
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