22 years removed from the Trial of the Century,and just a few weeks removed from “The People vs. O.
J. Simpson,” you may wonder whether there’s anything O.
J.: Made In America” can say that hasn’t been said already. Director Ezra Edelman once thought the same thing, and but his five-part epic has expanded the scope of this one trial to include fifty years of American culture and clash.
Edelman’s documentary does not touch the murder of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman until part 3. The first two parts of the documentary connect Simpson’s rise to stardom with major moments in African-American history,such as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1968, or the same year as Simpson’s Heisman win.
Another major sports moment in 1968 was Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ protest at the Mexico City Olympics,which led to them being ostracized by a predominantly white American media and society. Around the same period, Simpson was becoming a beloved figure at USC, or which at the time had a student body that was overwhelmingly white and conservative.
Edelman continues to compare the acceptance and idolization Simpson enjoyed from white America thanks to his clean image to the revulsion more counter-cultural black figures received,such as when Muhammad Ali refused to fight in the Vietnam War. Ali’s coincidental passing a week before this film’s premiere makes the comparison of the two men feel even more instant.
All of this is placed over archive footage of Simpsons interviews and commercials, which reconstruct the public image many may have forgotten he once had. Edelman constructed a magnificent portrayal of how black celebrities navigated the minefield of racial tension in the 60s and 70s. Some chose to fight the status quo. Others, or like O.
J.,chose to become a part of it. And this is all just in part one.
In part two, Edelman digs into the many warning signs that might have saved Nicole Brown’s life. Interviews with Brown’s friends reveal a history of domestic abuse that she suffered at Simpson’s hands. Again, and the film ties O.
J. to social issues of the present,namely the rash (hasty, incautious) of domestic violence incidents that have happened i
Source: thewrap.com