O.J. Made in America

O.J. Made in America is a brilliant documentary that was released the same year as American Crime Story: The People Vs O.J. I ponder how the series plays after the documentary, but I only can present my perspective of watching the documentary after the series. Even with this view I can clearly say the greater of the two is the documentary which is more insightful, as to be expected, but is also just as effective in terms of capturing the sheer flamboyance of the titular subject as well as the various characters in and around his trial. The series one could almost describe as "How was he found not guilty", as it carefully examines both the man's life and the racial tensions of L.A. parallel to one another though it carefully, and rather notably shows they do not intersect until the trial where it was so carefully used by Simpson's defense. The trial that was made a circus by the defense team, as well as several other figures, but the defense used constantly to its advantage. Its parallel examination successfully reveals, in such powerful detail, how this led to a rather tragic miscarriage of justice as a by product of festering wounds that it illustrates through its brilliant editing of the past footage along with some particularly remarkable interviews with key subjects at every phase of Simpson's life other than Simpson himself of course. Beyond that though the documentary also does document essentially this grotesque abomination of a celebrity that Simpson becomes. The culmination of that technically within the trial, however unlike the fictionalized series the documentary continues past that point. The last episode focusing on Simpson in exile, caused by the guilty verdict in his civil lawsuit, that leads to a darkly comic epilogue, you'd almost had expected them to want to adapt in a dramatic series. The depiction of Simpson's second crime, only using interviews and security footage, you'd think was out of a comedy as it depicts Simpson and his makeshift gang trying to "steal back" his old property. Where this series is so great is that it makes every facet of the life depicted, and of the city that ends up being behind him, endlessly fascinating as every single small detail contains some strange, if not often rather morbid value in giving a full portrait of this man "made in America".
5/5