Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
O.J Simpson
Alan Durchawitz
F. Lee Bailey
Shawn Chapman Holly
Carl E. Douglas
Marcia Clark
Directed By:
Jay Gira
The very name of O.J Simpson gets people talking, even more than a decade after the events. His trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her boyfriend Ronald Goldman. Not only it was turned into a social issue by almost every interest group, but it also went down in history as a feat of courtroom wizardry. O.J Simpson is remembered in pop culture as an über-guilty guy, who stared at the electric chair for a few months, but was saved by a tight-knit team of amazing lawyer. Like ninety percent of the white people in America, I always had the impression that O.J did it. So the viewing of this documentary and the subsequent review will be complemented by supplemental readings I have made on the case, to grasp the full scope of the problematic and gain a little perspective on Jay Gira's short documentary (well, rather short. Fifty minutes long). I gained insight on the case (on the trial, mostly), but the questions about the involvement of O.J Simpson in the Brown/Goldman murders remained unanswered.
O.J SIMPSON: MONSTER OR MYTH is not a very good documentary. I understand what Jay Gira tried to do of trying to slip into O.J Simpson's intimacy to try and pull confessions out of him, but it didn't work. Half of the documentary is Simpson driving his car, going over the places and recalling the events of the trial. It's evident that he doesn't trust his interviewer and keeps repeating that he's innocent. He gives the factual recall of the trial months, but never goes into the heart of the problem. O.J's legal team is a lot more interesting to listen to, though. As they very professionally don't dig into their opinions about the murder, their insight about the trial is fascinating to hear. Another issue though is that the director gives a lot of air time to every member of the O.J team and gives maybe three or four minutes to D.A Marcia Clark. I understand there might be reasons under that, Clark might not have been the most cooperative, but still. The final product is biased and doesn't answer fundamental questions about the case.
BUT...viewing O.J SIMPSON: MONSTER OR MYTH shed some light on a few things. Especially why he was found Not Guilty in court. Knowing that you only need a reasonable doubt to walk away in criminal court, they could have never convicted him. They had a LOT of DNA evidence, but the involvement of documented violent and racist cops like Mark Fuhrman casts a shadow on whatever the accusation would present. There were many irregularities with the DNA samples. A blood-soaked sock who wasn't soaked at one time, according to some of the witnesses, for example. The whole case was a mess. The reasonable doubt structure of the justice system made it easy for Shapiro, Cochran, Durchawitz and others to break this case into pieces. That, Jay Gira's documentary made a good job at illustrating. The "rock solid" case against O.J Simpson is a myth.
Do I still think he did it? Yes. The most fundamental question that remains unanswered is who else had a motive to kill Nicole Brown? O.J was getting through a divorce, she was pumping a lot of cash away from him, there was a custody battle involved. I don't think anybody had a better reason than him to see her disappear. The violence of the murders is also very puzzling. Brown and Goldman were savagely attacked. The murderer left a gory, angry job behind him. A robber would've stabbed and run, no? Also, were there ever other suspects? Nothing is resolved about this case. My best guest would be that Simpson hired someone to do this. In the end, O.J SIMPSON: MONSTER OR MYTH is a little simplistic and biased for a documentary about such a complex problematic. Is it worth watching? Yes, because it brings a different point of view to the table as it doesn't crucify O.J from the get go. It has to be taken with a grain of salt, though. It's one of those essayist films. It's a little unapologetic for my own taste, but it brought some interesting elements to the debate.
SCORE: 55%