In 1969, the dream died. Chances are you’ve heard that one before. Also, it is quite likely you know pretty well what dream we are talking about: it’s, of course, the hippie dream of a more equal and just world based on free love and community. This dream didn’t just die of natural causes. Instead, it was murdered byCharlesMansonand his so-called family, stabbed to death like actressSharon Tate, her friends, and the LaBianca couple. That such wide-eyed, peace-and-love-touting youths like Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian were able to commit such heinous crimes is something that continues to shock the American public up to this day. That they seemed to be under complete control of a mad-looking criminal such as Manson is something even more terrifying. Butthe reality of what happened in the days - or even years - that preceded the Tate-LaBianca murders and the trial that followed them might just be a little more complicated than we believe. Or, at least, this is what documentarianErrol Morristells us in his new film, Netflix’sChaos: The Manson Murders.
Known for acclaimed works such as 1988’sThe Thin Blue Lineand 2008’sStandard Operating Procedure, Morris chose to adapt a book byTom O’NeillandDan Piepenbringthat shines a whole new light on theManson family crimes. Also titledChaos: The Manson Murders, O’Neill and Piepenbring’s work defies the classic Helter Skelter theory, according to which Manson ordered his followers to kill Tate and the LaBiancas to pin it on the Black Panthers and start a race war - a theory proposed and defended by writer and prosecutorVincentBugliosi. Instead, the authors suggest that Manson might’ve been an FBI/CIA plant in a crusade to smear the names of the social movements that were on the rise in the 60s. It’s a wild proposition, and one that Morris doesn’t take at face value. The result isa documentary that walks a very fine line between conspiracy-fodder and actual thinker, but that ultimately succeeds in making us question the fictions we create to make sense of the chaos that is reality.
‘Chaos: The Manson Murders’ Fails in Its Boring Visuals
Mind you, it does so in a way that makes you think “perhaps this could’ve been an article.” After all,Chaos: The Manson Murdersis very by-the-book when it comes to its visuals. Interviews are interspersed with not-too-revealing images of the crime scenes, photos of victims and killers, shots of life at the Manson family ranch. There’s a fast-paced editing that is meant to make it all a little bit more dynamic, but it isn’t enough to dispel the feeling that we have seen this all that before. Just by looking at it, you would say that Morris' Netflix project is pretty much the same as any othertrue crimeNetflix project, with the added ominous soundtrack in case you haven’t realized just how scandalous and scary everything is.
Not even the songs provided by Manson himself do the trick. The inclusion of Manson’s music inChaosseems to serve a dual purpose.The songs are there to illustrate one of the theories that Morris explores: that Manson wasn’t really trying to kill Sharon Tate, but was actually targeting producerTerry Melcher, who used to live in Tate’s house. This theory purports that Manson was actually moved by his resentment towards the music industry that did not recognize his talent - and one’s got to say that he was not at all a bad singer. Thus, it makes sense to show viewers what kind of music the movie is talking about: not murderous anthems, but hippie ballads fit to appear on a Beach Boys' album.
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But given the documentary’s overall vibe, Manson’s music also seems to serve to humanize him, though not in a way that makes us understand that humans are capable of terrible things. Surrounded by O’Neill’s conspiracy theories and the creepy soundtrack,they function almost like bizarre internet posts highlighting that Hitler used to be a painter, pointing at this monstrous thing and saying “isn’t it freaky that it also has feelings?“It’s something that seems very beneath Morris, and one has to wonder the extent of higher-ups interference in the project to make it more like sensational shows such asMonster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Storyand less like classy true crime investigations such asCapturing the Friedmans.
‘Chaos: The Manson Murders’ Strength Lies in Its Interviews
Thankfully,Chaos: The Manson Murdersdoesn’t rely solely on these tidbits. Morris' strength lies in the interviews he conducts and the narrative he’s capable of creating through them. The director is not at all interested in making a straightforward adaptation of O’Neill and Piepenbring’s book, instead chatting with many actors involved in the Manson case, from Bugliosi to Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil. In his conversations,in lieu of trying to prove O’Neill and Piepenbring’s point, he searches for other reasons behind why Manson and his followers did what they did. As a matter of fact, he even goes as far as telling O’Neill point-blank that Manson having been trained by the CIA doesn’t seem plausible at all - something that is made even clearer by the fact that O’Neill can’t prove any of his far-fetched theories. Nevertheless, Morris recognizes that, while completely out there, there is some semblance of truth to be found in what O’Neill has to say. Indeed, the Tate-LaBianca murders were the perfect propaganda piece for governmental organizations aiming to disrupt the anti-war, hippie movement.
But it feels weird, in the day and age of QAnon, to see a serious documentarian give so much credit to a conspiracy theory. Especially in the first few scenes of O’Neill’s interview, you’re able to feel your skin crawl due to how mid-2000s History Channel it all sounds. However,what Morris wants by placing this conspiracy theory alongside other, much more plausible or accepted ones, is to make us question what is reality and what are the stories we tell ourselveswhen it comes to crimes such as the ones committed by the Manson family. When placed side by side with Bobby Beausoleil’s claims that Manson was just a paranoid cult leader trying to get everyone in his group with their hands dirty in order to avoid getting snitched for another crime, doesn’t Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter theory sound just as bonkers as O’Neill’s?
At one point, in his interview via telephone, Beausoleil says a sentence that sums upChaos: The Manson Murderspretty well:“The problem with this story in particular is that people are very fond of their fantasy.”Are we really looking for the truth when we examine and reexamine the Tate-LaBianca murders? Or are we simply trying to make sense of a chaotic reality? Is Manson really a criminal mastermind? Or is he simply a failed musician that got caught up in his own blunders, as Beausoleil paints him? Most likely, we will never know. But, by God, do we make up fantasies to fill up these holes in our worldview! And, by God, is Errol Morris going to put them under the microscope.
Chaos: The Manson Murdersis now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix’s new documentary walks a very fine line between conspiracy-fodder and actual thinker, but ultimately succeeds in making us question the fictions we create.
