Jonestown - The Life & Death of Peoples Temple
by Stanley Nelson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Hue Fortson Jr., Janet Shular, Rebecca Moore (VI), Stanley Clayton (II), Tim Carter (IX)Director: Stanley Nelson
Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC, PAL, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS Paramount
Movie Reviews of Jonestown - The Life & Death of Peoples Temple
Movie Review: further proof that religion is a load
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Summary of Jonestown - The Life & Death of Peoples Temple
Jonestown. Decades after the fact, the very mention of the word evokes grim memories of Rev. Jim Jones, his Peoples Temple, and the horrific suicide of more than 900 followers who accompanied him to Guyana, Jones' self-styled South American Shangri-La. While November 18, 1978--when, following the shooting of California Rep. Leo Ryan (who had come to Jonestown to investigate various allegations about mistreatment of cult members), all those people drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid--is the obvious focal point, producer-director Stanley Nelson's 90-minute documentary also devotes a good deal of time to Jones' personal history up to and including the founding of the Peoples Temple. Born in Lynn, Indiana, he was inspired by the power and authority of the preachers he witnessed, and was at it himself by his early twenties. His own church was fully integrated (he and his wife adopted two Asian Americans and one African American; the latter, named Jim Jones Jr., is among those interviewed for the film). Services were joyous occasions, more like Baptist revivals than the typical white Christian affair, and Jones' followers seemed genuinely devoted, buying into his snake-oil bit (including fake healings) and willingly forking over 20 percent or more of their incomes to him. But after Jones moved the Temple from sleepy Ukiah, California, to San Francisco, the madness began to set in, and just as an expos? of his more unsavory practices (sexual and otherwise) was about to be published, he hurriedly relocated the whole scene to Guyana. Although Jonestown was virtually a prison camp (the mere thought of leaving was blasphemous), they managed to convince Ryan that it was paradise--until the congressman started getting notes surreptitiously passed to him by members desperate to get out. Chaos quickly ensued, and the film's final moments, in which Jones can be heard exhorting his crazed flock to drink the Kool-Aid, are genuinely harrowing. There is ample footage of Jones himself, along with the recollections of Peoples Temple members (including those very few who survived Jonestown) and others. Deleted scenes and an interview with Nelson highlight the bonus material. --Sam GrahamProduced for the PBS series American Experience Stanley Nelson's Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples' Temple written by his frequent collaborator Marcia Smith examines the infamous religious cult formed by Jim Jones and the events that led to the group's horrifying mass suicide in 1978. The film traces Jones' history from his unhappy childhood in rural Indiana. Witnesses describe a strange charismatic young man who nursed a seemingly sincere desire for social justice but also reputedly murdered small animals as a child. Jones' desire to befriend people across color and class lines alienated his family and neighbors. Eventually he moved to Indianapolis where as a young Pentecostal minister he started the city's first integrated church. Eventually Jones moved his church to California to escape the racism he perceived in Indiana. In Redwood Valley his church took on a new life and he began aggressively recruiting new members. At first members were required to tithe a percentage of their worth but eventually they were expected to relinquish all of their "worldly goods" to the Temple. In 1974 Jones moved to San Francisco where he acquired some political clout before his high profile caught up with him. Just before a damaging expos was published he moved his people to what was meant to be a "paradise" outside the racism and oppression of America in Guyana. Nelson interviews eyewitnesses including many former members of the Temple and members of Congressman Leo Ryan's staff who managed to escape when the congressman's investigatory visit ended in bloodshed. The film had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.System Requirements:Running Time: 90 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 841887052269 Manufacturer No: 705226
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