paul-allaer

As "Chaos: The Manson Murders" (2025 release; 96 min.) opens, the documentary states its opening premise: how did Charles Manson get total control over the minds of the so-called Family, ordering them to murder innocent people? We then go to "August 9, 1969", the day after Sharon Tate and 4 others were murdered and before 2 more innocent people were killed later that day. At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is based on Tom O'Neill's book "Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties", in which he wonders whether the CIA somehow was involved in all this as it was working on a secret project called CHAOS to understand how to control people's minds. I have not read that book, and frankly I would not have been all that interested in watching this documentary, but for the fact that this is directed by the Oscar-winning Errol Morris ("The Fog of War"). Morris interviews O'Neill extensively, and makes it clear that he (Morris) is quite skeptical about O'Neill's original premise. One of the things that sets this documentary apart from the many other documentaries about these events is that Morris pays close attention to Manson's music (the lack of getting signed by a label; even better: the use of 8 songs sung by Manson, culled from his 1968 demoes).

"Chaos: The Manson Murders" recently started streaming on Netflix. After reading an interesting review on it in yesterday's NY Times, and realizing that Errol Morris directed this, I watched it last night. The documentary is currently rated 66% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which sounds about right to me. If you have an interest in the Manson murders now 56 years later, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

As "Missing From Fire Trail Road" (2024 release) opens, we are on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington State, and several women are talking about someone who has gone missing. That turns out to be Mary Ellen Johnson Davis, a 39 yo Native American. She was married to a white man, who promptly moved to California when his wife went missing... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from French-American documentarian Sabrina Van Tassel ("The Silenced Walls"). Here she looks at the troubles for women living on Indian reservations. The stats don't lie: more Native America women go missing, or are murdered, or assaulted (or all of the above) on Indian reservations than any other segment of the female population in the US. The movie is at its core more oriented toward social justice for these women, than it is a true crime drama. Equally interesting is that this documentary provides a glimpse of what day-to-day life is like on Indian reservations. It will perhaps not surprise you that, as good as this documentary is (which it definitely is), it also makes for a rather depressing viewing experience.

"Missing From Fire Trail Road" premiered at last year's Tribeca film festival to positive acclaim. It is now streaming on Hulu, where I caught it just last night. If you want to better understand what life is like Native American women, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

As "Torn" (2021 release; 92 min.) opens, we are in "Bozeman, Montana", where Max is reviewing archive materials (videos and slides) about his dad, Alex Lowe, a celebrated climber who perished in an avalanche in the Tibetan Himalayas in 1999. Max was 10 yo at the time. His 2 brothers Isaac and Sam were even younger. We also get to know Conrad, Alex's best friend and climbing partner, who survived that very same avalanche... At this point, we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: the first half of the documentary is what I would call your typical extreme sports documentary, where we witness the exploits, one more jaw-dropping than the other, of Alex and his climbing partner Conrad. I had never heard of either one before seeing this. Then seemingly out of nowhere (at least for me), the documentary takes a major turn and becomes something totally unexpected. I will not mention further details so as not to spoil your viewing experience. All I will say is that the documentary moved me to tears (literally). The documentary benefits from the fact that so much archived footage and slides were available, including of the 1999 deadly avalanche.

"Torn" is currently streaming on Hulu, where I stumbled on it just the other night. This is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a bit too generous, although I will readily confirm that this is very, very good. Whether you are familiar with the Alex Lowe saga or not (as I was), I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.