What a fantastic allegory

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2019)

I have never considered myself a Tarantino fan as such, though I have seen most of his movies and they have always been interesting and decent movies. Given I have rated this movies so high though I think thats worth noting, I think as a stand alone movie this really was exceptional.
I really wish I would have the chance to speak with the movie creators with this one to see if my interpretations match with their vision. There is so much here to unpack if you look into it.
The movie has elements which hark back to a golden age, when people in Hollywood made movies and TV to entertain and to venerate hero's. At that same time this also seems to show so much that reflects modern society. You have the man who has been accused of a crime (killing his wife) and who everyone as judged and punished without any proof that the accusation is true. You have all the elements in hollywood which have led to its devolving into a mockery of itself, just repeating old stories and having no true imagination any more. Its all set to a background of a man who feels like he is over the hill, and struggling to come to terms with the way things are changing.
All of this comes with a side story, which mimics the true stories of the manson family. Those who know the story of the mansons know these were left wing "hippies" as they were known, who preached love while in reality using this as nothing more than an excuse to justify terrible actions by calling people they didnt like fascists. In reality the story of the mansons involved a group of four innocent people, including a pregnant woman who was brutally murdered by several of the girls who supported manson and manson himself. This movie however does something truly brilliant with its ending. Instead of mirroring the reality, this movie instead has the final scene doing what Hollywood always did, it paints reality as though the bad guys can never win. Instead of reflecting what really happened our heros have a redemption arc, killing the evil hippies.
I would be absolutely fascinated to speak with the creators of this movie and see if they agree with my interpretation, and if a movie can make you think this much while also entertaining you the whole time, well that movie is truly fantastic.