TRIBECA 2019 REVIEWS: Mary Harron’s CHARLIE SAYS puts the focus on the women that followed Manson as opposed to the deadly cult leader

Mary Harron’s CHARLIE SAYS puts the focus on the women that followed Manson as opposed to the deadly cult leader in this REVIEW from TRIBECA 2019

When researching for this review, I tried to figure out how many movies, books, documentaries and TV shows had been made about Charles Manson.

I gave up after looking at several dozen entries.

The infamous murders in 1969 Los Angeles is well-worn territory, with yet another star-studded feature – Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – due out this summer. So what does Charlie Says bring to the table that all the rest of these efforts don’t?

The women.

Rather than focusing on the mad cult leader, the brutal murders, or the legal process which came after, the film focuses on Leslie Van Houten, one of the many girls who lived on the ranch with Manson and his minions.

Taking place largely in the state correctional facility where Van Houten (played by Game of Thrones alum Hannah Murray) and two of her co-conspirators are serving their prison time, she is who the story revolves around. Between the prison scenes and flashbacks to her time in the company of Manson, we get to see these terrible events from the point of view of this lady as not only a killer, but a victim too.

The main thrust of the narrative revolves around a social worker, Karlene Faith (played by Nurse Jackie cast member Merritt Wever), whose job it is to try and deprogram the women from Manson’s grasp. And it’s no easy task. Even years after their capture, with no contact with Manson, they are still his willing puppets. And therein lies the tragedy. None of these people were killers starting out. Watching their behavior in prison is startling enough. Espousing the beliefs Manson instilled in them – that they would live in a pit as the world ends and emerge as winged elves – just getting them to read any book but the Bible is a challenge. It’s very hard to understand how grown, intelligent women could believe such nonsense, and for a long while, Faith is at a loss as to how to help these ladies.

It’s the flashback scenes which really drive home how Manson brainwashed his subjects. Director Mary Harron cuts slices of the real-life narrative into easily digestible bits which really drive home how a person can go from merely looking for love and acceptance to mass murder. Manson’s perverse manipulations of carrot-and-stick techniques combined with charm and a grandiose penchant for theatrics are captured here in perhaps the most convincing way which the story has ever been depicted. Matt Smith plays Manson adroitly, capturing body language details, well-timed ticks and smiles, and carefully targeted mood swings so authentically, one can really see how brainwashing actually works. Smith’s no stranger to biopics either. His turn last year as legendary risqué photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in Mapplethorpe was just as astounding. His chameleon-like ability to bring deceased famous folks to life was well-employed in the film this time around as well.

Many audiences may find it revolting to try and humanize the women who participated in the brutal stabbing deaths in the Tate and LaBianca homes (and mercifully, Harron doesn’t dwell on those crimes too much, with both being reviewed minimally in the movie).

But the fact is, Manson was the monster and he made these women into what they became. Watching Leslie’s journey from lost runaway to absolute devotee of a madman is an exercise in the mechanisms behind loneliness, a yearning to belong, and to be free. Faith relentlessly tries to peel back the layers to undo the damage to their fragile minds. It doesn’t happen overnight. Manson broke these people with a clever sociopathic method which has to be seen to be believed.

The result?

One of the women excuses a beating she received by Manson by stating, “Getting hit by the man you love is no different than making love to him.” Once your mind has been so conditioned, anything is possible. And that sad truth is what Charlie Says captures all too well, all the way to the coda of the film which recalls an earlier scene and plays out an alternate destiny for Leslie. This glimpse of what could have been with but one small decision offers a powerful moment of “there but for the grace of the angels go I.” As such, while it does not vindicate Van Houten in any way, it serves as a reminder – circumstance could lead any of us to perdition. It is folly to believe otherwise.

TRIBECA 2019 REVIEWS: Mary Harron’s CHARLIE SAYS puts the focus on the women that followed Manson as opposed to the deadly cult leader