O.J.: Made in America

In watching O.J.: Made in America, there are so many things to wrap one’s head around – the depth here is astounding, and rightfully so with a nearly eight-hour run-time. The examination of race and privilege, and how the two clash in the nexus of Los Angeles, entertainment capital of the year, is compelling and never feels like a stretch. Nearly all of the people in the documentary (I subconsciously want to call them characters because the events that transpire are larger than life) are given the time to develop on screen and become real human beings rather than talking heads, including all the pros and cons of such diverse personalities in abundance.

O.J.’s absence from the film speaks more loudly about his character than his presence ever could have – the viewer never has a chance of being “O.J.’d,” in the words of an interviewee. We see him through the eyes of those who knew him, allowing the film to paint his personality through a collage of testimony. However, this method of telling O.J.’s story might tell us more about the people in his life – what they wanted for themselves and how they tried to attain it.

Ezra Edelman allows his subjects to justify or damn themselves, often in the space of one talking-head bit. Unpacking this documentary will take a while, but the internal conversation that this kind of content fosters is worth having, especially in understanding privilege and race in America.