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The Last Dance, whilst clearly skewed towards presenting Michael Jordan in a favourable light, is a superb piece of documentary making.

When ESPN dives deep for one of their 30 for 30 doccies, they usually deliver the goods, and now Oscar Pistorius’ life is under the microscope.

Earlier this week, ESPN announced The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius, which has been in production for several years, and the four-part documentary will debut on ESPN+ on September 27.

Hopefully, it comes to Netflix or a platform we can watch soon thereafter.

The doccie is directed by BAFTA award-winner Daniel Gordon (Hillsborough, George Best: All By Himself) and produced by Academy Award-winner John Battsek (Searching for Sugarman, One Day in September):

Featuring interviews with more than a dozen of the figures closest to the story, the film recounts Pistorius’s fall from grace after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the wee hours of February 14th, 2013 in his home in Pretoria, South Africa. According to Pistorius, the event was a tragic accident, but his troubled past and questionable testimony cast doubt on his innocence. As the saga unfolds, the story flashes back to the very beginning of the future Paralympic star’s life, chronicling his improbable ascent from a young boy who had both his undeveloped legs amputated as a toddler to overnight teenage phenomenon at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games.

Shattering records and convention, “The Blade Runner,” as he became known, then went on a quest to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics. His struggle against international track and field officials continued for years before Pistorius finally prevailed and competed at the London Olympics in 2012. Less than a year later, he was in a South African courtroom, accused of murdering his girlfriend.

Something tells me that after a slew of poorly put together documentaries and dramatisations, this is going to be the seminal look at how Pistorius fell from grace.

Here’s the trailer:

Will there ever be a criminal trial that grips the country like it again?

There was talk of a documentary based on Reeva Steenkamp’s life, My Name is Reeva, last year, but it’s not known at what stage of production that currently is.

[source:espn]