THE PEOPLE VS. OJ SIMPSON. (2016) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
THE
PEOPLE VS. OJ SIMPSON: AMERICAN CRIME STORY. (2016) BASED ON JEFFREY TOOBIN’S
1997 BOOK, THE RUN OF HIS LIFE: THE PEOPLE VS. OJ SIMPSON.
STARRING
CUBA GOODING JR., DAVID SCHWIMMER, JOHN TRAVOLTA, NATHAN LANE,
SARAH PAULSON, STERLING K. BROWN, KENNETH CHOI AND COURTNEY B. VANCE.
REVIEW BY
SANDRA HARRIS. ©
I absolutely loved this gripping ten-episode series, only on Netflix
until February 28th, 2022, which forms the first season of true
crime anthology series, AMERICAN CRIME STORY. The writing is brilliant,
the acting top-notch and the pacing wonderful.
The series is based on the real-life murders of Nicole Brown
Simpson and Ronald Goldman by acclaimed NFL (football) player and
sometimes-actor, Orenthal James Simpson, better known to the public as OJ ‘The
Juice’ Simpson. OJ was Nicole’s ex-husband, with whom he had two children,
Sydney and Justin, and Ronald Goldman was Nicole's then boyfriend.
After a widely televised low-speed car chase through Los
Angeles (‘The Juice is loose! The Juice is loose!’), OJ Simpson is
arrested, charged with the two murders and put in the LA County Jail, where he
remains until he is acquitted of the murders over a year later. Ah, come on
now, you knew that already! That wasn’t a spoiler, lol.
While he’s in jail awaiting trial, he assembles what the
media call a ‘Dream Team’ of crack lawyers to defend him and get him
off. These include Robert Kardashian, the father of Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and
Robert Jr., who now, of course, practically own the media or at least dominate it to
a large extent. Their dad was separated from his children’s mother, Kris
Kardashian, later Kris Jenner, at the time of the murders and the trial.
Robert Kardashian is played magnificently here by David
Schwimmer, aka Ross from ‘90s sitcom FRIENDS. He’s one of OJ’s most
devoted pals (his kids call OJ ‘Uncle Juice’) and, in the beginning
at least, he believes steadfastly that OJ couldn’t kill anyone, let alone the
wife he says he loves with all his heart.
Schwimmer looks exactly like Ross Geller here, except for the
white streaks in the slightly quiff-ier and taller black hair, and, any time
Kardashian is depressed, upset or just plain bewildered by the turn of events
or OJ’s cocky behaviour, you can just see the ‘Ross’ coming out in him. Yep,
there he is, that’s the lovely emotional Ross we know and remember…!
John Travolta plays another Robert, this time Robert Shapiro,
who also brings F. Lee Bailey on board, who in turn recommends top lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
Johnny Cochran, a black lawyer who is also a black activist and an advocate
for victims of police brutality, joins the team and quickly becomes the lead
attorney, leap-frogging over a disgruntled Robert Shapiro to do so. Well, hey,
Bobby, maybe you shouldn’t have been so quick to go on that Hawaiian vacation,
lol.
The defence play the race card big-time, making out that OJ Simpson is
being targeted by the LAPD cops because he’s black. When the policeman who
finds the incriminating bloodied glove- if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit- is found to
be a known racist, a hater of black people and frequent user of the ‘n’ word, it causes
a humongous furore in the press and ultimately helps OJ’s case, as his lawyers
make sure to make a huge big thing out of it.
Prosecuting ‘the Juice’ is Deputy District Attorney Marcia
Clark, a divorcing woman who has to take care of her children and fight a tough
divorce-slash-custody case as well as prove that OJ brutally killed his ex-wife
and her lover. She appoints Chris Darden to her team because they need a ‘black
face’ on it, otherwise it’ll just look like a bunch of white guys are out for
OJ’s blood simply because he’s black.
Marcia prosecutes the case from the point of view of a
domestic violence case, as OJ has a long history of beating up Nicole, who
appears to have feared for her life and had even put certain preparations in
place in the event of her possible death at her husband’s hands, for example,
putting photos of her injuries from previous beatings in a locked box.
OJ is the one on trial, and yet the American media prosecute
Marcia Clark mercilessly, deriding her hair and clothes and saying she looks
like a cold, hard ball-breaking bitch. She is urged by her boss, District
Attorney Gil Garcetti, to ‘soften’ her look a little, so she does, but that bit
is really upsetting.
There are two innocent people lying dead, but instead of
pushing for the murderer to be brought to justice, all the media do is criticise the
prosecutor because she’s a woman. And to bring her appearance into it as well,
to make it so personal, is just disgraceful. But, hey, look, a powerful woman,
let’s take her down! That’s what’s more important to them than justice,
obviously.
Check out the scene where Johnny Cochran, himself revealed as
a former spouse-abuser in the show, has to practically re-decorate OJ’s house in order
to make it look less like a titty bar and more like the home of a good, decent
family-loving, Elderly-Momma-worshipping African-American boy for the benefit of the jury, for when
they make a home visit. Seems not entirely honest to me, but whatever. This is
how they do it, seemingly.
The series takes us through all the legal stages of the
trial, from the plea hearing (‘Absolutely not guilty, your Honour!') to
the jury selection to the preliminary hearings right through to the trial
itself, the summing-up on both sides and the all-important verdict.
The trouble the court has to go to in order to select a
completely unbiased jury is clearly shown in the series. Also, the stress the
jury are under, to stay separate from their loved ones, homes and families for
the duration of the endlessly long trial, is shown to us also.
Both the defence and the prosecution have to think carefully
about the mixture of black people and white people on the jury. For example, will
black men be sympathetic to OJ? Hell yeah. What will black women think of
Nicole? Will they side with her because she was a victim of terrible spousal abuse or,
as was actually the case, will they dismiss her as a ‘white gold-digger’ because
black women supposedly don’t like it when black men marry white women? These are
the questions both sides need to ask as jury selection goes on. And on…
They are all watched so carefully during their sequestering, the jury members, almost as if they’re criminals
themselves, that the pressure really gets to them at times. I loved these jury bits, also the parts featuring long-suffering Judge Lance Ito, who nearly had to quit the trial at one point
due to a conflict of interest.
You don’t really get to know Nicole or Ronald, the victims,
at all. Photos of them were shown at the very end of the show, but, other than
that, you don’t really get a sense of them at all in the ten episodes. We know
that Nicole was definitely a victim of domestic violence, and that Ronald
Goldman had a family who loved him dearly, a family who didn’t feel their boy
was getting a good shot at justice even before the verdict was handed down.
OJ comes across here as shockingly disrespectful when talking
about the times he beat up his ex-wife. They were just wrassling, he
claims, just tussling, you know, like all married couples do? The way he
smirks and brushes off the accusations turns even his loyal best friend Robert
Kardashian’s stomach.
OJ is portrayed generally as a self-pitying, whiny drama
queen who has to have the spotlight on him twenty-four-seven, not a likeable
guy at all. As I never knew the real OJ, I can’t say whether the portrayal is
accurate or not, but Cuba Gooding Jr. is certainly a good actor.
The overwhelming DNA evidence alone, which Marcia Clark is
convinced will convict the former football player, is practically laughed out
of the court when the whole world sees the shots of OJ’s hand not fitting
the glove that forms a major part of that evidence.
If the glove don’t fit, said Johnny Cochran to the jury, you
must acquit. And they did. Not everyone was happy about the verdict. Was he
guilty? Did he do it? You’ll have to make up your own mind on watching the
series, but do hurry if you haven’t already seen it. It’s only on Netflix till
the end of February, 2022.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
Her debut romantic fiction novel, 'THIRTEEN
STOPS,' is out now from Poolbeg Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Stops-Sandra-Harris-ebook/dp/B089DJMH64
The sequel, ‘THIRTEEN STOPS LATER,’ is
out now from Poolbeg Books:
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