Monday, May 08, 2017

TV review - "The People vs OJ Simpson" (2016) ****1/2

Cracking dramatisation of (one of) the trial of the century, something that was such a huge thing when it was happening - so many articles, so much analysis, you got sick of it. Enough time has passed for some better analysis - I loved it.

The theme of this piece was the war on women vs the war on black people - women exemplified by Marcia Clark, much mocked and maligned, and, Nicole Simpson, beaten and dead; black people exemplified by the weak prosecutor, and rumbustious Johnny Cochrane, and OJ and Rodney King.

It was a hard slog trial full of twists and turns - a collapsing prosecutor, a racist cop, a troublesome jury, a political defence that got out of hand but proved brilliantly effective. Robert Kardashian and Marcia Clark come out of it extremely well; actually, so does Cochrane.

OJ remains an enigmatic figure - touching at times. The show skirts the issue of his actual guilt/innocence very well.

It took me a little time to adjust to some super famous faces playing other famous people eg Cuba Gooding Jnr, Nathan Lane - but after a while it was fine. Everyone gives a strong performance. Great writing, very well plotted - I loved it.

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