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Back in September, ESPN announced The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius, which had been several years in the making.

The four-part docuseries, 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), promised to be the definitive look at the once-heralded athlete’s fall from grace.

It also prompted renewed interest in the case, with reports emerging soon afterwards quoting Pistorius as saying he was desperate for Reeva Steenkamp’s parents to forgive him.

That may well be even more unlikely now, given what the docuseries reveals, but let’s watch the trailer before we get to why it’s being so strongly criticised:

Here in South Africa, episodes of the docuseries will premiere weekly on ESPN (DStv channel 218) from Thursday, November 19 at 8PM, with repeats each Sunday at 8PM from November 22. The series will also be available on DStv Catch Up.

The series has been aired in the UK, on the BBC, and the Telegraph reports on the backlash:

The BBC has already provoked fury with the way it promoted the series, with many people disgusted there was too much focus on the troubles of Pistorius, including a clanger of a press release about his “extraordinary story” as “an international hero who inspired millions”, and a gushy trailer about his sporting achievements.

Appended to the online hashtag campaign, #SayHerName, people demanded of the BBC why the life and death of Reeva Steenkamp were not in the foreground. The BBC apologised and replaced the promotional material.

The series itself stands accused of presenting Pistorius in a manner that evokes sympathy towards him, and much of the talk around Steenkamp’s murder is done in the passive voice.

“Oscar’s disbelief at what had happened…”, and “she is dead from a gun”, rather than she was murdered by Oscar, for example.

Director Daniel Gordon’s comments on Pistorius’ guilt – “four years in, and I’m still flip-flopping. You’re never quite sure” – haven’t helped.

Digital Spy further spells it out:

By intertwining the investigation into Reeva’s murder with footage of Pistorius’ glory days, viewers are invited to sympathise with him. Instead of feeling the full weight of the loss of Reeva Steenkamp, we’re presented with the warped idea that the real tragedy was tied up in seeing a man of such promise fall so spectacularly from grace. The constant flashbacks act as a regular reminder of what he achieved, rather than allowing for his legacy to be overwritten…

What is indicative of the tone of the series is that the final moments were dedicated not to Reeva or her family’s overwhelming loss, but instead to Oscar’s state of mind and his wish to be forgiven.

The Guardian awarded the docuseries a two-star review (out of five), saying it “could have asked bigger questions on domestic violence, or the murder of Pistorius’s scarcely mentioned girlfriend”.

More from that review:

Over five hours and 40 minutes, we get an exhaustive, exhausting account of Pistorius’s childhood, his medical history – born with fibular hemimelia, his feet were amputated at 11 months to give him the best overall mobility – his schooling, the death of his mother when he was 16, his training, his genuinely remarkable sporting achievements…

What could have been an examination of the cultural convergence that makes South Africa one of the most dangerous places for women to live – a woman is killed by her partner there every eight hours – instead amounts to little more than a head shake over one man’s bad luck…

Right on the money with that one.

Read the rest of that review here.

I’ll still watch the docuseries when it starts airing locally, but it appears that an opportunity has been missed by those involved, and the tragic murder of Reeva Steenkamp relegated to something of a backstory.

[sources:telegraph&digitalspy&guardian]