Another Tarantino foray into alternate reality

Rating: 7/10 (2 September 2019)

Like 'Django Unchained' and 'Inglorious Basterds', 'Once upon a time in Hollywood' presents an alternate reality in an attempt to rectify the unrectifiable: the hideous, senseless murder of Sharon Tate, her unborn son, and her friends at the hands of Manson family in 1969.
The movie is hailed as a love letter to the last days of the Golden Age of Hollywood and a faithful vivid portrayal of the late 60's America, yet even that portrait is partially flawed. Fifty years on, America is still (apparently) struggling with its counterculture legacy, either vilifying or ridiculing it. Tarantino does both, equating more or less hippies with followers of Charles Manson while ignoring the fact that the Tate-Polanski couple were as much hippie as they were jet set, being later referred to as 'the anti-establishment establishment'.
You'll encounter familiar characters, situation and places, but unfortunately they are caricatures (sometimes grotesque) of the people who they claim to portray, be it Bruce Lee or Steve McQueen.
Sharon Tate is no exception, and one wishes the time allotted to her character were better utilized, instead of creating such a hollow, one dimensional persona that doesn't serve any narrative purpose. For whatever's worth, we get to see the real Sharon in film footage, instead of Margot's superimposed image.
Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that this movie is not about Sharon Tate's murder. In the end, the 2 main characters seem to merely serve as a plot device: they fulfill a role Sharon's neighbors and friends couldn't... be in the right place at the right time.
In that regard, the movie is very effective. As I was watching the last scenes I couldn't help wondering: where were the real Sharon Tate's neighbors that fateful summer night 50 years ago?