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Reviews Counted:49
Fresh:46
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: 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.
Theatrical Release:Oct 20, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: With previously unseen footage and interviews with former members of the Peoples Church, this documentary explores the events leading up to the Jonestown Massacre in 1978. A cult which developed a... [More]
Director: Stanley Nelson
What finally emerges is a thoroughly plumbed investigation, heart-breaking interviews of depth and breadth with witnesses and survivors, and a nuanced reconstruction of the times in which Jonestown became possible.
A conventional but genuinely heartrending exposé... the calamity is made real and terrible and important to hear about in this definitive account.
More than a record of one horrific moment in history or the cautionary tale of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
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.
compassionate and sobering
... riveting documentary ...
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.
The film says just as much about the state of American politics, the emergence of a mass media and the perceived sanctity of religion as it does about one of the world’s lesser-known demagogues.
[The film] tells a remarkable tale of the rise and fall of a toxic utopia that coalesced around an increasingly certifiable leader.
Docu is standard, recreating the chilling moments of the tragedy, but Jones remains an engima. Helmer Nelson doesn't address any conspiracy theories or provide a perspective to make his work more pertinent to understanding current religious fanaticism
Every now and again, we have to be reminded about such things.
The combination of these materials and the new interviews reconstruct a story few really know.
Frightening, grueling, and needed in an age where religious fanaticism of all kind reigns...
One of the year's most important documentaries, a real must-see.
The interviews are fluid and snappy, and there's plenty of footage that encapsulates just how enraptured Jonestown was with Jim Jones' vision.
Ending with mass suicide in deepest Guyana, the story of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple is both the death rattle of '60s utopianism and -- predicated on the desire to found a New Jerusalem in the wilderness -- a very American saga.
Top CriticJones was a charlatan who faked healings, demanded sexual favors of members and committed all sorts of criminal acts.
Top CriticOffers a sophisticated thesis, digging into the reasons why people joined the Peoples Temple.
Jonestown is a thoroughly conventional documentary...But this familiar format also emphasizes the movie's universality.
One of the most chilling aspects of Jonestown is its use of the audio tapes of Jones speaking on Nov. 18, 1978.
Top Critic
October 23, 2006:
RTIndie: David Lynch, Terry Gilliam Living on the Edge of Hollywood
It's a tough time to be a veteran in the indie game. Why are celebrated auteurs David Lynch and Terry Gilliam having a hard time getting their films into theaters? More...
October 19, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Flags" Flies High; "The Prestige" Is Magic; "Flicka" Is A Pretty Good Ride; "Marie Antoinette" Spared Critical Guillotine
This week at the movies, we've got a complex tale of heroism (Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," starring Ryan Phillippe), a story of dueling magicians... More...
Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.
Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.
In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
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