Jonestown - The Life & Death of Peoples Temple (2006)

very Good

I think this was an excellent project, but I really would have liked to see the issue of CIA involvement, or at least the questions surrounding this issue, addresssed even in a cursory manner. I hope more is revealed and that another great film maker is planning another documentary. August 31, 2008

further proof that religion is a load

Jones was one of the best B.S. artists of them all. Should be a wake-up call/eye-opener to anyone who thinks some all-knowing/anointed evangelist is going to show them the way to eternal salvation.

Alas, there will always be enough naive types who will follow a loser like Jim Jones--to their (likely) doom.

It's sad. Jones wasn't/isn't the only lowlife/manipulator out to get what he can out of others. May 8, 2008

A MUST SEE FOR YOUTH, PARENTS, CLERGY AND CULT FIGHTERS!

This documentary is fascinating with in-depth accounts of the few people who did manage to duck the darkness of a minister gone mad. It presents accounts of temple devotees who didn't go to Guyana in the first place, those who went but escaped the shootings at the airstrip, as well as those who narrowly escaped through the jungle at the time of the poisoned Kool-Aid escapade. Accounts of people who grew up with Jim Jones as schoolmates and neighbors are also presented.
This documentary covers Jim Jones in his childhood, his troubled teenaged years, his years in college, his early days as minister and social activist and in his morally declining years due to drugs, all being capped off with his suicide in Guyana.
The People's Temple began as a result of a vision of a young man who saw the indecency of segregation practiced in various churches. He reached out to the poor and downtrodden and had a vision of an integrated church with outreach to various people who the rest of the world threw away. Everyone was welcome. His church was not a cult----yet. After all, he was a legally licensed, seminary-trained clergyman in the mainline, traditional sense.
Everyone who entered the doors witnessed the tradition of an old-time American religion, complete with hand-clapping, choir, Sunday School and childrens' programs. And over and above all this, a utopia was extended complete with a roof over one's head, free dental and medical care.

It was all too good to be true. The people found a panacea.....but there was a price.

The 1950s drew to a close, and in came the 60s and 70s, and so he thought-"out with the old, and in with the new." Eventually, little did his followers know that what looked like a typical American Protestant religion on the surface would become a front for Socialistic and Communistic ideals-so much so that the Bible was thrown off the pulpit and Jim dethroned the God in Heaven and enthroned himself as the true Messiah. He would drum into his congregation how the "Sky God," would not feed them or take care of them but that he always would, and that if they would leave his church, terrible things would happen to them. (One is reminded of the tactics used by tyrants as Stalin and Tito, for example, who likewise brainwashed people in this fashion. Young children in Communist komsomols were asked to ask God in Heaven to give them candy. Then they would ask Stalin, and candy would come through the rooftop). According to certain sources I've read, the old-time Christian facade was only kept so that he did not have to pay taxes.

What was once a Christian church became his haven and Socialist play pen for woman hopping, drug use and complete tyrannical control. He was God, he was the "chosen one." And ultimately, due to paranoic tendencies, came the "escape" to Guyana. The sad scene of people whose lives were cut short because of a left-winged madman haunts me even today. So much for Communism being the answer to the world's problems. This incident and history show that it's not liberating, but oppressive.

In America, we have over 2,000 sects (based on statistics I read). There could be cults among them. You young people, teenagers and parents and clergy and law-enforcement officers, watch this film. No one should EVER have to go through this kind of brain-washing and oppression. Our American constitution ought to shield us from such tyranny. May 4, 2008

Great Documentary!

This is by far the best documentation of the Peoples Temple and the JonesTown tragedy! May 2, 2008

Watch In Tandem With A Few Other Pieces Of Information Available On The Net

"Jonestown-The Life and Death of The People's Temple" is the best of the documentaries about Jonestown available. It is less sensational than the "made for TV movie specials" I have seen on this subject. "Jonestown" contains great footage of Jim Jones preaching and children singing "Welcome" in the San Francisco location. As with most PBS documentaries, the information is presented in a straight-forward style, without commentary or question. Most important to the documentary are the interviews with Jonestown survivors. Their stories do the most for explaining what happened and why they were drawn in to the church.

But this documentary has a lot of holes in it. Many of the deepest questions that remain about Jonestown are not answered by this documentary. The interviewer does not ask one survivor to explain his/her escape. One interviewee explains how he was next to his wife and baby when they were given the cyanide flavor-aid. His wife died in his arms. From that point you never hear what happened to him or how he escaped death. Another survivor says a kid bumped into him, fell to the ground and died. He then comments "then he knew it was real". But we never hear how he gets away if there were people with guns keeping him and everyone else in.

Curious about these unanswered questions, I went digging around on the net and was very suprised at the information I found. The most illuminating piece of information available is something called the "Jonestown Death Tape". This is a tape of the temple meeting after the Senator was killed. If was released, with 900 other tapes, by the FBI last year. You can listen to the tape on many sites, or you can read a transcript. On the tape, temple members discuss the death of the Senator with Jim Jones for about 45 mintues. I was always under the impression that most people were coerced into killing themselves. Amazingly, most peoople profess to being happy to die. One lady even stands up and asks that her child Teddy be given something now and she will be satisfied. Many members express disappointment over the white people that deserted with the senator's group. The desertion makes them doubt their noble experiment in equality and race relations. Many people say they have no life back in San Francisco. They tell "father" he gave them the best days of their lives. You can also hear the full exchange between Christine Miller and Jim Jones that is mentioned in this DVD. Christine Miller is not immediately shot down when she brings up her questions about Russia on the tape even through the interviewees in this documentary state that she is.

Despite the morbidity, the tape is a good thing to listen to before or after you watch "Jonestown". The death tape addresses the questions left unaddressed by the Jonestown DVD, but be warned that it will leave you with other questions unlikely to be answered until all information about Jonestown is declassified. For example, Jim Jones makes statements on the tape that leave you wondering if the victims found with gun shot wounds or needle marks weren't given them after voluntarily drinking cyanide so that Jim Jones could make it seem like he and his followers were attacked and be viewed as martyrs. We'll never know because autopsies weren't performed on the bodies. And many people on the tape mention 1200 people being in the temple that day. What happened to the other 300? How did the 16 escape? Why does Jim Jones whisper to his assitant that "they only have 40 minutes left"? The questions go on and on.

Be warned, the tape is not for the faint of heart. It contains the clear cries of children dying while temple members discuss their situation. But you will hear how and why 900 people died in Guyana that day. Amazingly, they weren't bullied. A lot of group mentality took over. Also, you'll hear clear parallels between Jonestown and Waco. You'll hear Jim Jones telling his followers they are in a "compound situation" and everyone decides they are willing to take their own life rather than face attack. From there it's not difficult to imagine what happened at Waco. Both Waco and Jonestown came under scrutiny because of custody battles. Did Jonestown clearly foreshadow Waco?

So, watch it. Cry. Do a little more research. Listen to the tape. Learn. April 14, 2008

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