The Last of the Manson Girls

The recently released book "Chaos" is a mind-numbing, 600 page exhaustive collection of "what if's" and coincidence concerning the Manson Family. It is fascinating and frustrating. It creates more questions than it ever answers. But what if, at the end of it all, the answer is that there is no answer?

"The Last of the Manson Girls" is a simply crafted, tight period piece aimed at dismissing the flood of conspiracy theories. In the end, nine people were murdered. We will probably never know why. Those who participated in the murders have deflected the question for decades to protect their own skin. Manson himself could never be taken seriously-- he was too busy playing the crazy demon, and fighting a celebrated District Attorney who filled the public imagination with visions of "Helter Skelter". Those left behind-- Sandra Goode, Lynette Fromme, Brenda McCann-- were left to make sense of it all and defend their fallen Guru. And how do you move on when society has judged already you?

The girls were played brilliantly, but the sense of "craziness" is perhaps overdone. No doubt intentionally. The "X's" carved into the foreheads of the three acolytes are unnerving and dominate every scene.

The movie is an excellent peek into the mania that is Manson lore. One that persists 50 years on.

It seems the point of this film is to re-humanize the broken followers of Manson; to make them less demonic and more humans in need of love. Quirky, colorful, and out-of-sequence like an acid trip, this is not a landmark film or even a great one. It may not even ever be considered important, and will likely quickly be forgotten and never reach cult viewing status. Nevertheless, if you're old enough to remember the Vietnam War era, something here will click for you.

I thought, if watched for what it is. This was an excellent movie.