Manson: The Women

I managed to find this on Peacock, streaming. I was a young adult in graduate school in the late 1960s yet, while I clearly remember Charlie Manson and his followers being in the news, most of what is contained in this documentary was new to me, and very captivating.

The movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is of course focused on Manson's "family" living at the Spaun Ranch and in that movie many of the characters, like Tex Watson, represent real people. But in Tarantino's imagination the Sharon Tate murder on August 8, 1969 turns out quite differently.

This documentary, as suggested by its title, focuses on the young women, some still teenagers, who became Manson's followers. In his 30s he had already been in prison a number of times and he had developed an approach to get these followers to trust him and when he told them a social war was beginning and they had to kill, and that guilt was a nonproductive emotion, they believed everything he told them.

The documentary uses interviews old and new, from 1969 and 1970, plus with many of the women now in their 70s. They range from those who came to grips with the Manson deceptions to those who today still believe in him. As one, "Blue", says, "You can be a murderer and still be a good person."

All in all one of the better documentaries I have watched.