Jonestown: Life and Death of Peoples Temple

Directed by Stanley Nelson

On Nov. 18, 1978, Rev. Jim Jones and some 900 members of his Peoples Temple congregation committed mass suicide at their isolated compound in the remote African jungles of Guyana. Jones, the paranoid cult leader, who claimed to be Jesus and Lenin reincarnated, exhorted (forced, in some cases) his disciples—men, women and children he’d taught to call him Dad—to imbibe cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Kool-Aid, leading to their deaths.

Just knowing about their demise is chilling, but meeting them face to face, as one does in Stanley Nelson’s gripping documentary, Jonestown: Life and Death of Peoples Temple, is devastating.

Formed by an assemblage of home movies, cult documentation, interviews with journalists, historians, survivors and relatives of cult members, as well as the shocking documentation of Jones spurring his flock to suicide, Nelson’s narrative is a fascinating, grimly compelling account of the rise and demise of Jones and his followers.

Like Jesus Camp and Deliver Us From Evil, Jonestown enlighten us to the extreme power religious leaders can have over our lives and the lives of loved ones. Devoid of sensationalism and cynical exploitation, it’s a completely credible study of how religious fervor went wrong. It’s a real life horror movie, complete with fear and torture. The carnage is harrowing. The images will linger.