Jonestown:

The Life and Death of People's Temple

(2006)

directed by Stanley Nelson

reviewed by Jonathan Rocks

12.5.07

Before viewing this film, I had a very limited idea of who Jim Jones was and what the People's Temple was all about. Like many people my age my knowledge of this topic was limited to the off-hand way people, often in political banter, refer to people of opposing views as "Kool-Aid drinkers." I knew that Jim Jones was a cult leader, and he had something to do with a group of people who'd killed themselves by drinking poisoned Kool-Aid, but that's about it. What I wanted to know was, who were the members of this cult and what could make them all commit suicide at the whim of one man?

"Jonestown" was an intriguing look into the rise of the People's Temple leader Jim Jones from a radical preacher who extolled the virtues of racial harmony, to his descent into the depraved, paranoid megalomaniac he was when he died. Interviews with former People's Temple members, some of whom escaped from Jonestown on that fateful day, were particularly interesting because they allowed us to see how one might become fascinated in what the People's Temple had to offer. Racial harmony, acceptance, love... these are things everybody wants, and that is what Jim Jones promised them. Also, newly released footage of a U.S. Congressman's contentious visit to Jonestown was utterly surrealistic and terrifying. While watching this film, it's hard for it not to draw comparisons it to other similar groups such as David Koresh and his Branch Dividians, and the Heaven's Gate cult, though the People's Temple went as far as to abandon the United States for Guyana (the location of Jonestown) to maintain their privacy.

This film is part of the PBS "American Experience", a series of films that, thus far, have not let me down. They are always engaging and well-made, and this film is no exception. The footage from the last day at Jonestown, especially the audio of Jones's last "sermon", was a haunting experience that no viewer will soon forget. I recommend it highly and I defy anyone to find an action movie out there today that has as much suspense and drama as the last 30 minutes of this film.

Score: 4.5 out of 5

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