Watched this 2017 documentary late last night (it is currently available to view on SBS on Demand in Australia). Released soon after Manson's death, and comprised of interviews, archival footage and recorded prison phone conversations with Manson and Bobby Beausoleil, as well as the usual dodgy staged re-enactments of the key events. Rob Zombie seems a strange choice to get on board as narrator, especially if you were trying to present it as a serious documentary, but thankfully he doesn't narrate in a white trailer trash accent or throw out a curse word every five seconds. Originally titled CHARLES MANSON: THE VOICE OF MADNESS before the subject died while the film was in production, this turned out to be one of the better and more interesting documentaries on the subject, of which there have been a plethora. CHARLES MANSON: THE FINAL WORDS at least isn't afraid to throw doubt onto the wildly accepted version of the events, and questions whether "Helter Skelter" was indeed an insidious plan put together by Manson and his followers, or more just a bunch of random threads and ideas that were weaved together by prosecutor Bugliosi in order to present a compelling case and assure a conviction against Manson (who of course received the death penalty, later commuted to life, even though he never actually killed any of the Tate or LaBianca victims, and was not even at the scene of the first killings). I don't think anyone would deny that Manson deserved to spend the rest of his life behind bars, but whether he was put there by entirely legal means or not is an interesting question to ponder, which this documentary certainly makes you do.
