LEISURE
BLOOD
RUNNER
DOCUMENTARY
aralympian sprinter
Oscar Pistorius, aka
Blade Runner, never
denied shooting and
killing his girlfriend, Reeva
Steenkamp. But he pleaded not
guilty, claiming that he mistook
her for a burglar breaking into
his home—a touchstone night-
mare for white South Africans.
Despite his emotional testimo-
ny, the media and South A
public remained convince
was a cold-blooded murd
Vaughan Sivell, who w
granted access to the Pis
rius family archives, begi
by documenting the runn
childhood in apartheid S
Africa. “The new South
was born with huge chal
and Oscar was too,” said
Sivell. “Mandela’s South A
rica became the pride of t
western world in its sens
forgiveness and Oscar ch
the way we view disabilit
ally.” For Sivell, Pistorius
and fall from grace becam
metaphor for how the “ra
nation hadn’t worked as
hoped”, with rampant cri
and corruption.
As in the infamous murdertrial of American football star
O.J. Simpson, race plays an
important role in the case.
Factors such as White privilege
and Pistorius’s flashy lifestyle—
fondness for fast cars, firearms
and blondes—are pivotal in
skewing the public perception
of the incident. Sivell feels Pis-
torius’s early misdemeanours
“were perhaps no worse than
so many rich young sportsmen
who are young and restless”.
Sivell gives viewers plenty
to mull over as he highlights the
botched police probe and politi-
cisation of the case. “South Af-
rica stood up to world’s scrutiny
and went to enormous lengthsthree episodes devoted entirely
to the trial, the series looks
at the state’s active pursuit of
Pistorious and the obliteration
of his achievements. Pistorius
benefits from the video docu-
mentation of the trial. However,
Sivell fails to match the many
interviews with Pistorius’s fam-
ily members and commentators
with voices who support and
speak on behalf of Steenkamp.
The result is a detailed
portrait of a young man who
gets caught in a tragedy of his
own making. “Outside, he was
a confident, strong, attractive
and great sportsman on his
blade legs,” said Sivell. “Behind
out his legs
ghtened and
very con-
s disability.”
cumentary,
n Prime, of-
no clear
nswer as to
is guilt or
nocence. But
certain that
career is over.
ill be 37 by
he is even
r parole.
—Suhani SinghP
PISTORIUS, VAUGHAN SIVELL’S
FOUR-PART DOCUMENTARY,
IS NOT A WHODUNIT^
BUT A‘WHYDUNIT’ADAM STOLTMAN/ALAMY