O.J.: Made in America (2016)
About This Movie
Ezra Edelman's nearly eight hour documentary uses the O.J. Simpson case as a lens through which to examine the entire history of race relations in Los Angeles, from the Great Migration through the Watts riots, the Rodney King beating, and the LAPD's decades of brutality against Black communities. The trial is not the subject; it is the culmination of forces that had been building for seventy years.
Why It's a Classic
Edelman understood that you cannot comprehend the Simpson verdict without understanding the history that preceded it, and his film's extraordinary length allows him to build that context with the patience and rigor of a historian. The first two hours cover Simpson's rise from poverty to football stardom to celebrity, showing how he deliberately distanced himself from the Black community and cultivated a raceless public persona. The middle sections trace the LAPD's history of violence against Black Angelenos, from the 1960s through the beating of Rodney King, making the jury's acquittal of Simpson legible not as a miscarriage of justice but as a community's response to decades of state violence. The interview subjects, from Simpson's friends and teammates to jurors, prosecutors, and the families of the victims, provide a polyphonic account that resists simplification. The final section, covering Simpson's post-acquittal decline and eventual imprisonment, gives the film the structure of a Greek tragedy.
Fun Fact
Edelman conducted over seventy interviews for the film, and several participants spoke on camera for the first time. The documentary won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature despite some controversy over whether, at nearly eight hours, it should be classified as a film or a television series (ESPN originally broadcast it in five parts). A juror admits on camera that her not guilty vote was payback for the Rodney King verdict, one of the most candid admissions in documentary history. Simpson himself declined to be interviewed for the film.
Parent Note
The film contains graphic crime scene photographs of the murders, autopsy images, video of domestic violence (photographs of Nicole Brown Simpson's injuries), archival footage of police brutality including the Rodney King beating, and detailed discussion of race-based violence. Strong language throughout. The length (seven hours forty-seven minutes) requires significant commitment, typically viewed across multiple sittings. Not rated. Essential viewing for understanding American race relations, but the graphic content and emotional intensity make it appropriate for mature viewers only.
Quick Facts
- Year
- 2016
- Type
- 🎬 Movie
- Category
- Documentary
- Age Group
- Adults (Ages 18+)