Director Stanley Nelson avoids editorializing and sensationalizing in Jonestown, letting the CIA photos and film speak for themselves, and giving a voice to the surviving victims.
Director Stanley Nelson avoids editorializing and sensationalizing in Jonestown, letting the CIA photos and film speak for themselves, and giving a voice to the surviving victims.
On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 members of Peoples Temple died in the largest mass suicide/murder in history. What drew so many people across racial and class lines to the Peoples Temple? How could a diverse group of 900 people be convinced to commit suicide? What was a California congregation doing in the jungles of Guyana? And who was Jim Jones to command such loyalty that parents would murder their own children? Using never before seen archival footage and survivor interviews, "Jonestown: The
Life and Death of Peoples Temple" tells the story of the people who followed Jim Jones from Indiana, to California, and finally to the remote jungles of Guyana, South America, in a misbegotten quest to build an ideal society.
A somber, solid documentary [parading] the whole bleak tale before us again, complete with those disturbing scenes of hundreds of corpses in their tees and shorts and flip-flops strewn about facedown in the mud of Jonestown, Guyana.
The last half hour of Jonestown is almost unwatchable. Video footage of the assault on the congressman's delegation gives way to audio of Jones exhorting people to 'die with a degree of dignity' as children shriek in the background.
Jonestown is not an easy movie to watch. But it's a solid presentation of an important chapter in American and religious history. Haunting is the only word that truly fits.
Nelson's thought-provoking documentary investigation into the life and times of preacher Jim Jones raises a fistful of public policy questions that are still knocking around today.
As much as it leaves open individual questions of devotion and need, the film does make clear the dangers of seeking solace and identity in the embrace of such a complex ego.
Ultimately, the film doesn't entirely answer the massive 'why' at the center of this story -- that answer died on that day in 1978 -- but it's a haunting exploration of an event of unspeakable sadness, which still resonates decades later.
It is a frightening epitaph for what is surely one of the 20th century's most heartbreaking cautionary tales against giving one up to the will of another.
The documentary, directed by Stanley Nelson, incorporates rare footage and recordings with a history of Jones and the Peoples Temple. The film's planned airing on PBS will expose many more viewers to this important slice of history.
Nelson gives plenty of time to the intelligent, articulate members who provide riveting details about those days nearly 30 years ago and their reflections now, but he doesn't provide historical context for the events.
An interesting look at a horrifying piece of history and at just how crazy religious fanatics (and their followers) can be.
March 21, 2008
Robert C
Super Reviewer
A fascinating documentary regarding the rise and fall of Jonestown, a story that I really only knew the ending to. This film offers a look at the impetus for the Peoples Temple and, most frighteningly, paints an image of a community of hope and promise--not the least bit insane or depraved or fanatic. Of course, the
rose-colored image of the community begins to fall apart as survivors of the Jonestown massacre recall the abuse and pressing sense of isolation in a community of thousands, which inevitably degenerated into the tragedy on November 18, 1978. This a story told by those who lived through its horrors, and is absurdly powerful for it. Highly recommended viewing.
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