Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Yash Wade
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Anoushka Slater
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
vostf
I couldn't wait to watch this acclaimed documentary since I had only a superficial understanding of what happened during the 1995 trial. At the time of the resounding 'Not guilty' verdict I remember thinking that in America money could buy you out of prison even with overwhelming evidence against you.Ezra Edelman's documentary brilliantly adds maximum perspective to the original verdict. That OJ Simpson was, at heart, a man from the ghetto who would talk himself out of most situations (even if that meant leaving his buddies behind to save his neck) and as a man who reneged on his roots to enjoy the high life as the equal to other affluent (white) people. This last point is essential since this makes playing the 'race card' during the criminal trial even more outrageous (if that is indeed possible), but it also explains that the man was so obsessed with his image that he became just a big psychotic narcissist: an affable successful man in public and an extremely insecure (jealous and paranoid towards others but in denial about himself) thus prone to bursts of violent rage in his private life.The documentary also does a great job of describing the history of LAPD abuses against minorities. Simpson's defence posse eventually tried to connect this ugly context with the criminal case. Actually it was enough for the jury (already prejudiced in favour of Simpson) to think there was at least a reasonable doubt that all the evidence pointing at OJ's unmistakable guilt was not reliable. Which is silly because the defence strategy was about describing a litany of hypothetical doubts, not proving any actual weaknesses in the prosecutor's case, and wrap it under the argument that the LAPD has a history of gross misconduct against black people.As good as the documentary is presenting the facts, giving us a fascinating insight into the so-called "Trial of the Century", I felt I lacked something. I mean the 'Non-Guilty' verdict is even more disturbing after this comprehensive review. You just cannot believe that the "race card" just won the case. So I went on the read Vincent Bugliosi analysis of the trial (Outrage, the 5 reasons why OJ Simpson got away with murder) and I was thus able to link the dots: the prosecution fumbled his way through a truckload of sound evidence (plus another mountain of circumstantial evidence). You actually have a hint of this in Made in America: Christopher Darden is presented giving in to the defence tease to have Simpson try the gloves on. But for the most part direct testimony from Marcia Clark weights in on the overall 'Fatality thesis': this case was doomed from the start for the DA's office. It's like bad things happened for the poor prosecuting team (there were 2 dozens attorneys working the case !) but they had no way of preventing it or making up for the lost ground...I understand it is difficult to line up witnesses to sit in front of the camera and kind of stab them in the back by pointing the finger at them. I understand the focus of the documentary cannot be lost on a deep analysis of the trial yet there lacks one essential commentary at some point between the 5th and 7th hour of the storytelling. More precisely it seems strange that Mark Fuhrman is left alone defending himself for what happened when the prosecutors dumped him like a pestiferous witness in 1995, and with Marcia Clark continuing to blame him 20 years after (despite her dismal work in court she earned millions to write her whining account).
mea2214
I give this a 4 out of 5 Netflix stars which translates into an 8 here. The very first scene had me hooked seeing OJ looking like a despondent old man sitting in front of a Nevada parole board It actually made me feel sorry for him. After finishing the 8 hours I felt numb -- the ending neither happy nor sad -- just tragic. This entire saga was tragedy at so many different layers and so convoluted and twisted even Shakespeare himself couldn't write such a story.They had a good mix of interviewees that provided insight they must have been culling these past 20 years. Carl Douglas, former Dream Team lawyer who significantly contributed to this documentary, brings it home at the end with his 5th quarter metaphor. Nicely done.The trial sections relied heavily on the prosecutors Marcia Clark and Gil Garcetti. They never were asked why this trial took 8 months and not a couple of weeks. They didn't have to present every single piece of evidence. One juror briefly mentions how she was basically imprisoned for the entire trial. Didn't anyone think this could be a problem and perhaps cut to the chase? They lay all the blame on the glove incident on Darden. Wasn't Marcia Clark or Gil Garcetti his boss?Since Clark and Garcetti were such big contributors to this documentary I felt the producers didn't want to put them in a bad light. Even Fuhrman gets to do some mea culpa. The reason this trial turned into a circus is because everyone liked the stage. Everyone wanted the limelight to last forever -- even Judge Ito, who isn't interviewed. The ring leader controls the circus and in this trial that was the late Johnny Cochran.
evanston_dad
A blistering and engrossing documentary about the O.J. Simpson murder trial that explores how the sensational event became a symbol for the racial tension that was just waiting to boil over in Los Angeles in particular and the United States in general.I was in college when the O.J. story happened, and I only half paid attention to it at the time, so it was fascinating for me to watch this film that seemed like a new version of an old story. The film makes no attempt to hide the filmmakers' opinion that the innocent verdict in the case was a gross miscarriage of justice, but I have to admit that, though I've always believed O.J. was guilty too, I would probably have acquitted him myself as a juror based on the dismal way the prosecution handled the case.But the grossest outrage about the whole event -- I felt it at the time and I felt it again watching the movie -- is that the murders that made the whole trial necessary in the first place were forgotten amid the racial baiting and the defense's willingness to capitalize on the emotions of an angry and disenfranchised black community. A seven-hour documentary may sound daunting at the beginning, but I challenge you not to binge watch it.Winner of the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, a complete no brainer of a win.Grade: A
imagorilla
It was well made, yes. Well acted? Yes. But it was no Doggy Daycare. Doggy Daycare just speaks so honestly to the audience, as if the gentle, caring puppies themselves were speaking through the miracle of HD Digital film. Six dogs sitting in chairs was a record and this was by far the picture of the year. www.StacksTV.xyz