A feminist masterpiece
I think the reason the majority of people don't "get" EWS and don't consider it one of Kubrick's better films is because they are too blinded by their own misogyny to see what Kubrick is showing us, even though it's right before our eyes (hence the title of the film).
The proliferation and normalization of sexual abuse of women in modern Western culture.
How many times throughout the film do we see women being abused? The horrific fates of the prostitutes Bill engages with -- from OD'ing, to getting AIDs, to being trafficked while underaged.
Does it really matter whether Mandy was ACTUALLY sacrificed? If she DID die of an OD, couldn't one argue that her life and death still could be viewed as a sacrifice to the wicked, sexual desires of powerful men?
Kubrick didn't need to know about Epstein to see that elites regularly use and abuse prostitutes of varying ages, to varying degrees of sadism.
All of this is obvious to me in the film -- I don't think it could even be considered subtext. It's literally the plot of the film. Bill explores the underworld of prostitution and sees that the "end of the rainbow" is the reality that these women are being sexually abused, sometimes to death.
No one, including Bill, seems to really care or show real concern about any of these women. Until Mandy goes missing. I think that is when the veil is lifted and Bill sees how truly evil this all is -- and how he & his family are, in fact, as vulnerable and enslaved as these poor women are.
It has never been a secret that the sexual exploitation of women is rampant in our culture. It's just that it's so common, so normalized, so justified, and turned into such a joke, most of us actually can't even see how truly evil it is.
We all see it, but we casually overlook it. With our Eyes Wide Shut.