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Politics Part II: The Documentary Feature Films.

If you think there are politics in the minuscule corner of the animated race, then wait until you get a hold of the documentaries. This year, the branch made history by nominating four black filmmakers in the list for the first time. The nominees are O.J. Made in America, The 13th, I Am Not Your Negro, Life, Animated, and The Fire at Sea.

Three of those documentaries deal with the tense subject of race in America, and a fourth (The Fire at Sea) deals with a topic that has become very relevant in light of the events of the last few weeks: refugees and humanitarian efforts to rescue them. Only one, Life, Animated, is one of those feel-good documentaries that have tended, annoyingly, to win here in recent years, from Amy to Searching for Sugarman. And while the story of the child who became autistic early in life and found communication through the beauty of Disney is sincere and heartfelt, it is not the most compelling of the five, and likely has no chance.

The Fire at Sea, an Italian film, is stylish in its execution, and features a subdued and quiet narrative of people in the southern part of Sicily helping people coming from North Africa in search of better shores. The humanitarian efforts are impressive and the story is heartbreaking, but the excessively quiet tone of it makes it a long shot.

Then we have the three documentaries that feature race relations, at least two of them, The 13th and I Am Not Your Negro, arguably sparked by what has been happening with police brutality, and both featuring clips and appearances by last year’s presidential candidates. The 13th would have probably won in another year, as Ava DuVerney’s signature no-holds barred style and pristine editing make a compelling and infuriating case that mass incarceration is the 21st Century’s version of Jim Crow, which is in turn the 20th Century’s version of slavery. Still, the film rambles off topic at times, trying to bite off more than just that narrower topic, and will likely finish third.

I am Not Your Negro, meanwhile, is a beautifully wrought film based on the writings of James Baldwin, and it explores the civil rights movement through essentially an autobiographical account. This film is perhaps the most incisive in its analysis of the tension between races, the history of racism, and the different approaches to combating it. For those reasons, it is likely to be also not as accessible as the others.

No, the unquestionable winner this year - winner also of the DGA, the PGA, and the ACE Eddie - is O.J.: Made in America. The nearly eight-hour long ESPN film is impressive in its scope and ambition alone, and it pulls off what it clearly sets out to do, which is to narrate a compelling story of one of our most famous fallen heroes. The story is no doubt gripping, and it is told by documentarian Ezra Edelman in that intense style. Along the way, you discover bits and pieces about the tale that even the most devoted O.J. fan maybe did not know, and you get a tour de force account of the tension between police and the black community in Los Angeles.

In the end, O.J. is the story of a quintessential American tragedy, where perhaps most of it would not have happened had O.J. been white - though the film does not go as deep as one may like, the point is still there on the surface.

Will win: O.J.: Made in America
Could win: N/A

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