OJ Simpson: Made in America

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Television series
German title OJ Simpson: Made in America
Original title OJ: Made in America
Country of production United States
original language English
year 2016
Production
company		 ESPN Films, Laylow Films
length 467 minutes
Episodes 5 ( list )
genre documentary
Director Ezra Edelman
music Gary Lionelli
camera Nick Higgins
Initial release January 22, 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival
German-language
first broadcast		 July 7th and 8th 2017 on Arte

OJ Simpson: Made in America (Original title: OJ: Made in America ) is a 5-part American documentary directed by Ezra Edelman from 2016 . He tells the life story of the athlete and actor OJ Simpson and describes above all the legal proceedings for double murder against him . Edelman links this with reflections on racism in the United States. At the 2017 Academy Awards, the film was awarded an Oscar in the category Best Documentary and has received numerous other awards. With a total running time of 467 minutes, it is the longest film ever to have won an Oscar.

content

OJ Simpson

The documentary initially addresses Simpson's origins. Then he sheds light on Simpson's career as an athlete and his outstanding running achievements in American football in the 1970s . It addresses how Simpson uses his popularity for commercial advertising purposes, but does not use it to strengthen the rights of blacks. His acting career in the 1980s and early 1990s only marginally played a role. It illuminates his second marriage, which he led from 1985 to the white woman Nicole Brown Simpson and from which two children emerged. During the marriage he lived with his family in a suburb of Los Angeles , which is mainly inhabited by the white, affluent population. The marriage in the late 1980s and early 1990s was marked by OJ Simpson beating his wife, who therefore called the police several times. Ultimately, his acts of violence are the reason why Nicole divorced him in 1992.

The film also looks at acts of violence in the greater LA area that non-Blacks perpetrate against blacks, but still get away legally without punishment that would be appropriate in the eyes of the black population. These acts of violence include the video-recorded beating of the black, defenseless citizen Rodney King , carried out by non-black police officers . The film shows images of the violent riots in LA caused by black citizens out of indignation over the acquittal of the police.

The film tells the story of the brutal double homicide that was committed in June 1994 of Nicole Brown Simpson and her boyfriend Ronald Goldman. OJ Simpson quickly became the prime suspect. The film shows how, days after the double homicide, as the prime suspect, he fled the police in a car while his journey was televised live and followed by millions of people. The main part of the documentary takes up the criminal case against OJ Simpson , in which he was accused of double homicide in 1995 and which became an event with much media coverage. Although Simpson was seriously incriminated by numerous circumstantial evidence , the jury made up of several blacks finally acquitted him. During the trial, Simpson's defense attorneys revealed the racist attitudes of the cop Mark Fuhrman, who was investigating the double homicide . The film shows the jubilation among the black population and the horror among the whites after the acquittal.

Finally, the film goes into OJ Simpson's life after the criminal trial. It is characterized by his using his popularity again to make money, and includes a criminal offense for which he is charged with kidnapping and theft and sentenced in 2008 to a minimum of nine and a maximum of 33 years in prison.

Shape and components

The documentation consists mainly of interviews and archive material . Those interviewed include companions, relatives, friends and enemies of OJ Simpsons as well as those involved in the judicial process, including police officers, jurors, lawyers and prosecutors. The archive material consists of recordings and photos originally produced for (live) television. The photos also include footage of the crime scene of the double homicide, including close-ups of the murder victims.

Emergence

Director Ezra Edelman

For the documentary, director Edelman conducted a total of 72 interviews.

Episodes and Publication

The film was first shown on January 22, 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival . On May 20, 2016, it was shown in select cinemas in Los Angeles and New York City , which made it eligible for Oscar nominations. In June 2016, the first broadcast on US television followed, on the sports channel ESPN , which had the film produced. On July 7th and 8th, 2017, the Franco-German broadcaster arte showed the film in German for the first time under the title OJ Simpson: Made in America in the main evening program with two or three episodes in a row.

No. First broadcast in the
USA 		German title German-language
first broadcast 		length
1 June 11, 2016 I am not black, I am OJ! 07th July 2017 91 min.
2 June 14, 2016 In the city of the beating policemen 07th July 2017 96 min.
3 June 15, 2016 A defense goes over corpses 0July 8, 2017 94 min.
4th 17th June 2016 A glove keeps the world in suspense 0July 8, 2017 93 min.
5 June 18, 2016 An acquittal in installments 0July 8, 2017 98 min.

reception

Interpretation and criticism

The documentary received widely positive reviews. Based on reviews in English, the aggregators Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes rated the production with a Metascore of 96 and a Tomatometer of 100, respectively, on a scale from 0 to the best possible value of 100.

The documentary received particular praise for addressing racism in the United States. Deutschlandfunk editor Julian Ignatowitsch, for example, praised the director's argument as convincing, according to which OJ Simpson is a prime example of how everything in modern America is connected with "the question of race, skin color and the history of decades of oppression". The British Guardian highlighted the documentary as one of the deepest cinematic insights into race and America that has ever been made.

At Zeit online , the journalist Marietta Steinhart wrote in 2016 that the documentary shows OJ Simpson as the hero "whom America wanted, but who failed at this task and fell into boundless narcissism ." The contradiction becomes clear that Simpson was involved in the double murder -The trial against him “played the black card” and exploited the sympathies and political leverage ”of black society, although he had never“ cared ”about this society in his life. In view of the most recent cases of US police violence , including the death of Michael Brown , the documentation recognizes that institutional racism in the United States has not been overcome “today” any more than it was 20 years ago. In summary, Steinhart praised the documentation as a "deeply" fascinating case study of Simpson.

The US magazine The Hollywood Reporter praised the documentary as rich, provocative, intelligent and thorough. Edelman drives the story with trustworthy instinct and proves that he is a remarkably confident storyteller. The US technology magazine Wired particularly praised the work of the film editors at OJ Simpson: Made in America . They had created a thriller from the great abundance of material from which one could not turn away.

Awards (selection)

The film was awarded the following prizes, among others:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jessica Roy: 'OJ: Made in America' is now the longest film to ever win an Oscar , in: Los Angeles Times on Feb. 26, 2017, accessed on July 26, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c d ARTE Magazine No. 7/2017, p. 44 f.
  3. ↑ a b Julian Ignatowitsch: A question of skin color , in: Deutschlandfunk from July 7, 2017, accessed on July 26, 2017
  4. ↑ Timo Nöthling: "OJ: Made in America": How a series deservedly won an Oscar , in: quotenmeter.de on July 6, 2017, accessed on July 15, 2017
  5. ↑ Release Info , in: IMDb, accessed on July 26, 2017
  6. ^ OJ: Made in America at Metacritic , accessed July 29, 2017
  7. ^ OJ: Made in America by Rotten Tomatoes , accessed July 29, 2017
  8. ↑ Lanre Bakare: OJ: Made In America - the Oscar winner that's the most in-depth look at race in America yet , in: The Guardian, March 4, 2017, accessed on Sep 30. 2017
  9. ↑ Marietta Steinhart: America's Fallen Hero , in: Zeit online from August 16, 2016, accessed on July 29, 2017
  10. ^ Daniel Fienberg: 'OJ: Made in America': Sundance Review , in: The Hollywood Reporter of January 22, 2016, accessed July 29, 2017
  11. ↑ Brian Raftery: OJ: Made in America Is a Masterful Feat of Editing , in: Wired .com, Sep 11. 2017, accessed Sep 30. 2017
  12. ↑ Awards , in: IMDb , accessed on July 29, 2017
  13. ↑ 'OJ: Made in America,' '13th,' 'Frontline' Episodes Among Peabody Documentary Winners , in: Variety, April 18, 2017, accessed Sep 30. 2017