Documented proof that life in the good old days of the 1960s was not all that good. The dark side of love and flowers.
The first reaction of people who have grown up in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s America will be to write this documentary off with a “so what”. But this does not do justice to the important mission of the searing story from Stanley Nelson, the Emmy Award winning director of ‘The American Experience--The Murder Of Emmett Till’ in 1988.
This new look at Jim Jones and his fundamentalist Peoples Temple makes use of extensive video footage shot by members of the Temple as well as recently released CIA photographs. The result is assuredly the most comprehensive look at the Peoples Temple and the life of its leader to date, especially the gripping final 48 hours.
A product of the depression era Midwest, Jones left home and his alcoholic father after a final falling out over Jones’ increasing awareness of racial injustice in America. In retrospect the falling out probably had more to do with Jones’ own growing charisma and his ability to befriend the friendless. He used his powers of persuasion to found an evangelistic church of devout followers, 80% of whom were blacks.
He started in his home state of Indiana, moved to a farm commune outside San Francisco in 1965 and moved to his final destination in Guyana in 1977.
In 1978 he and 914 persons died in Jonestown, most by self-inflicted poisoning by ingesting cyanide-laced flavored drink (aka: Kool-aid).
The 1960s and 70s has gone down in history as a time of great social unrest. Many disenfranchised young people and members of racial minorities were looking for alternatives and many were looking in the wrong places.
Although many of the spiritual initiatives of the time have faded into self-absorbed drug junkets under the harsh eye of historical perspective, gains were made in the arts as well as human rights. This film is a text-book example of how a religious congregation morphs into a cult, and how a religious leader changes into a dictator.
At the same time it shows the instability of the benevolent dictatorship and the tendency of absolute power to corrupt absolutely. Jones’ initial redemptive and self-empowering experience became a prison of mind-control and eventual self-execution.
The final 48 hours of the Guyana tragedy were precipitated by an inspection tour by Congressman Leo Ryan and an entourage of press and government officials. Several years earlier Jones had parleyed his Peoples Temple empire and a union with the similar Disciples of Christ into a political machine credited with helping Moscone’s mayoral victory in San Francisco.
Walter Mondale and Roslyn Carter met with Jones and he was granted the chairmanship of the San Francisco Housing Authority for his political contributions. In spite of this powerful political influence, reports of beatings, forced detention and sexual predation were seized upon by a scandal-hungry media. His final move to Guyana on the northern coast of South America was self-induced exile to a place where he felt he could maintain control. As letters home continued to report abuses of American citizens in the Temple, Congressman Ryan responded, bringing down the Temple and bringing about his own death at the hands of Jones’ murder squad at the same time.
Although the film documents the 911 persons dying of poison, it fails to mention reports of murder squads hunting down escapees in the jungle and adults forced to drink or being injected with poison.
The film also sidesteps a variety of conspiracy theories concerning confirmed CIA involvement and Ryan’s aggressive opposition to uncontrolled CIA covert operations around the world. Ryan’s legal advisor Jackie Speier, interviewed in the film, reports she was shot at point-blank range by Jones’ airport murder squad in an attempted coup-de-gras. She somehow survived five bullet wounds.
Remnants of other cults of the era still exist in scattered locations across America. They have buried their dead---lost to drug overdoses, suicides or unrecorded murderous internal strife. The survivors that continue on the path have formed groups offering fellowship and genuine friendship as opposed to mass brain washing.
This was their only way to survive.
Although “Jonestown” is little more than a TV special in its scope, it is well done and sincere and deserves its showing. We can only hope people learn from the experience.
Limited New York City opening October 20. No MPAA rating.
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