Charles Manson, one of the most notorious criminals in crime history has, as you would expect, a compelling story behind his crimes. This film, The Manson Family, attempts to show the story behind Charlie and his 'family', but never truly succeeds. The film takes a docu-drama stance at events and while you would expect this to be the best way to look at a true story, I was left feeling cold at the conclusion. The truth is, that while the crimes are compelling and make you want to take note; the story behind them simply isn't, and it makes for a less than interesting film. The story plods out like any other story of sex and drugs from the seventies, and while we, of course, know that there's something deeply evil about the father of this family; it isn't portrayed in a way that makes us want to find out what it is; and this isn't good at all since most people already know most of the details of what Charles Manson did. The story pans out with mock-live footage of the exploits of the family, mixed in with fake interviews of the perpetrators as they are today.
This film is well renowned for impressing at the festival is premiered at, but I really don't see why. All the film offers is disappointment, and the story of the 'Manson family' is severely wasted by the way that the filmmakers have seen fit to play it out. There has been a surge of documentary films being released lately, and their high-critical acclaim is what I blame for this film. The action is always made better by the fact that the events in this film really happened, but at the same time much of the movie isn't interesting at all; and while the film picks up towards the end, I think that if you're going to make a film based on true events, you should really focus on the most interesting aspects of the story in order to make the film itself interesting - this film doesn't. Sure, some people will enjoy and be impressed by, the pornography elements of the film, along with the drug culture atmosphere; but I certainly wasn't. I wanted a film about the crimes that The Manson Family committed, not what they were doing while Charlie was brainwashing them. On the whole; I am not amused.
This film is well renowned for impressing at the festival is premiered at, but I really don't see why. All the film offers is disappointment, and the story of the 'Manson family' is severely wasted by the way that the filmmakers have seen fit to play it out. There has been a surge of documentary films being released lately, and their high-critical acclaim is what I blame for this film. The action is always made better by the fact that the events in this film really happened, but at the same time much of the movie isn't interesting at all; and while the film picks up towards the end, I think that if you're going to make a film based on true events, you should really focus on the most interesting aspects of the story in order to make the film itself interesting - this film doesn't. Sure, some people will enjoy and be impressed by, the pornography elements of the film, along with the drug culture atmosphere; but I certainly wasn't. I wanted a film about the crimes that The Manson Family committed, not what they were doing while Charlie was brainwashing them. On the whole; I am not amused.