I was fascinated by this installment of this five-part series. It starts with his time at the University of Southern California and follows him up until he met Nicole Brown, his future second wife, a little more than 10 years later. There is a good mix of coverage of his college and professional football career, his work as a spokesman for Hertz and Chevrolet, and insights into his personal life and what motivated him at that time. OJ appears in the documentary quite a bit, although he did not take part in the making of the it. It is all footage from past interviews he did with various news people.
There are a number of people who are interviewed who knew him personally and professionally in various capacities: childhood friends, college and professional football teammates, sports journalists who interviewed and wrote about him over the years.
This installment opens on a chilling scene from a probation hearing that occurred 5 years after OJ was incarcerated for armed robbery. I was surprised that the director was able to obtain such footage for the movie.
One other part that I found chilling was the juxtaposition of various footage from 1968 without explanation or dialogue from interviews. The scenes from that year are a mix of OJ's appearance on a Bob Hope special, the announcements of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, and the riots that occurred in a a number of cities following the assassination of MLK.
OJ isn't the only subject of the documentary. It also looks at the world he grew up in and was living in during this period. There are profiles of the Los Angeles Police Department, the Watts Riots, and Muhammad Ali who (unlike OJ) took a stance on the war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement. OJ is the primary focus of the movie but the inclusion of these little sidebars help to flesh out the story and provide contrast to OJ and show who he was and was not.
This documentary is almost 8 hours long. It was released in 5 parts. Ezra Edelman, the director, recommends watching it all in one sitting. I can't stomach the thought of doing that. It took me three sittings just to get through this part, which is 90 minutes long. I am fascinated by it but I just can't sit still for that long to watch a movie.
I don't recall exactly where I heard about this documentary series first. It was discussed on a number of podcasts that I listen to regularly. I recall hearing Ezra Edelman talk about it on WTF. That is probably what got me the most interested in watching it. That episode of WTF is available but it is behind a pay wall now. I should probably chip in so that I can listen to it again but if I decide to do so then it won't be until after I have watched all five parts.
The only other podcast that I listened to where this program was discussed at length, that I recall, is Crime Writers On. They talked about it on the June 23, 2016 episode which can be found by doing a google search for Crime Writers On Made in America. I believe they also covered The People vs OJ Simpson on a different episode but I have not watched that yet.
I highly recommend this installment to anyone who is remotely interested in a nuanced documentary about OJ Simpson. I was out of the country when the Ford Bronco incident occurred and didn't pay close attention to the murder trial. I do recall where I was when the verdict was announced but once again I didn't pay much attention, probably because everyone else was talking about it and that's just the way I am. I'm looking forward to watching the next installment in the series and seeing what other insights it provides and the way in which Ezra Edelman assembles and presents the information.
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