Released in memory of the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana in 1978, this documentary came up and revealed plenty of new things just when
people thought nothing more could be added after countless of similar projects pop out over the decades. For a little while, I thought this was the most comprehensive and the most
complete documentary about cult leader Jim Jones and the People's Temple Church but I was slightly wronged as the events progressed and started to notice some missing
things that should have been addressed or better explained for those who don't know much or anything about the tragic death of 918 people in the jungle after following the
crazed Jones and his socialist mission of creating paradise on earth celebrating the union between blacks and whites.
I'm not gonna keep repeating the same old stuff about details, rise and fall of Jones and his followers since the documentary has all covered up in great detail
through the stories of Jonestown survivors, two of Jones' adoptive sons and one reporter, and most of it it's all common knowledge and easy to verify on the internet. A couple of info you can also find in other documentaries.
But there are plenty of new things or unthought (at least to me) issues that impressed me very much - such as
the survivors return which was followed with intense scrutiny by the media and the FBI since they could be considered as suspects in a mass killing rather than the official
suicide version (interesting point that never crossed my mind over the decades, and also a point that was never mentioned in other films). Plus the archive images and
audios are a result of a thoughtful research which makes of this project the impression of being a lot more complete than similar versions of same topic out there (though
I'd really wish they played the death tape for a little longer and tell the story on how it lasted for longer than expected due to some strange battery error).
For a whole hour this was going amazingly well and very informative until they mess up with one known fact and another one I had to dig a little more: voice of reason
Christine Miller is presented in this documentary as a footnote and it's not explained exactly her importance during the final moments of Jonestown and the people there. For
those who don't know, when Jones was calling out for the revolutionary suicide and everyone was supposed to accept their fate, Miller stood up and asked "Is it too late for
Russia?" which was an original plan of Jones if everything went wrong after failing in America due to persecution from media and defectors of his group. What she means was
why can't we escape to another place and live our socialist plan somewhere else instead of everybody having to die. But she was rebutted and the crowd shushed her up. 900+
people and only one could find a way out yet no one cared, and this documentary presents her in just one minute without showing the challenge (which was recorded on the death
tape and that's why the story is known).
The second issue comes with mysterious hitman Larry Layton, who was involved in the tarmac shooting of congressman Leo Ryan and the defectors from Jonestown who are
returning to the U. S. The film mentions that Layton was the only person charged with the murders on Jonestown (not the suicide or any possible killing there) but it doesn't
talk about his conviction, his appeals and how a Jonestown survivor testimony helped him in being released from jail after 20 years. This bit I had to research and I was
quite shocked in finding that Vernon Gosney (who appears in this movie and many others about Jonestown) was fundamental in Layton's release (after all, Gosney was shot by
him on the plane) - but there's a strange good reasoning for such.
Except for those omissions, the documentary is near-perfect in stating the facts and washing away some unfounded rumours - some we don't even bother to put on the same
sentence because the internet has plenty of things about the issue. It could have go on with an extra half-hour to present its impact around the world and why it's still
something discussed many decades later with similar cults doing the same act. And to say we'll forget about the tragedy of men, women and children by the hundreds so easily,
it won't happen and Hollywood has already two films in play: one with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and another one with Leonardo DiCaprio (who worked as executive producer of this
special way before media reveal about his project). I think it's important for a new generation and new audiences to find out about this terrible tragic story because it reveals
a darker side of the human condition that can't be ignored, there are lessons to be learned from it and finally Hollywood is getting some interest with it - sure, there's the
1980 miniseries starring Powers Boothe in an EMMY award winning performance and that exploitation movie with Stuart Whitman but those were rushed projects, without a proper
time for research. Hopefully, we'll get better pictures. Until then, the documentaries, the books and the official site conducted by the survivors remain our great sources
of information. 9/10.
