WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Lawbolisted Powerful

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Goingbegging First word tells. Never trust anything starting with 'Peoples...'Unfortunately, Jim Jones' cult (Peoples Temple) was targeting particular groups who were over-keen to believe in Utopia, many of them humble Afro-Americans, who seem to outnumber the other races in a way that makes this rainbow coalition look a bit suspect from the start. The black dimension is, however, the central concern of director Stanley Nelson, and that is how this 85-minute documentary differs from many others on the same horribly fascinating subject. It also means that you are better to have watched some of these first, as the present work naturally gives you a skewed version of the story.Only the first and last sections are directly sequential - Jones' boyhood, and then the climactic 24 hours leading up to the murder/suicide of 900 trusting believers. The main body of the film is taken up with first-hand testimonies by those connected with the Temple, either as bereaved relatives or disillusioned whistleblowers. Not one in ten of these could be described as people of critical insight. In fact, 'uncritical' is probably the key word. Long before they swallowed their lethal poison, they were swallowing a cheap mix of cult-theory, hot-gospeller gabble and theatrical stunts, including a transparently fake miracle with a wheelchair-bound 'patient' who is inspired to get up and walk.Some of their comments are so stupid that they can only be good news for any budding cult-leader, perhaps feeling tempted after watching an exceptionally glamorous whistleblower confessing that she surrendered her virtue to Jones when he said "I'm doing this for you, Debbie." One survivor, clearly unteachable, defends Jones on the grounds that "At least we tried to make a change". (Well, that really does leave the rest of us feeling narrow-minded.) Other reactions include "It all looked so plausible", "It looked like freedom" and "We had fun".At the risk of talking cliché, it is impossible not to note the Hitler parallels, especially the hypnotic effect on crowds and the appeals to turn-in your own family for signs of disloyalty. And his own suicide, at least, was on the cards. For he had shown that he was a man liable to cut-and-run. When the first whistleblower went to the press, Jones was on a plane to Guyana before the morning papers had even hit the street. And once that brave and unusually dutiful congressman Leo Ryan came to investigate on behalf of his worried constituents, it was clear that everything was about to unravel, and that Jones and his ghastly cult might as well self-destruct once and for all.

johno-21 I saw this recently at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival. It had a WHG Boston logo at the beginning credit roll so I would assume that this will aired on PBS television stations. Listening to comments from viewers leaving the theater I was surprised that many had never heard of Jim Jones and Jonestown or could barely remember it. As for me, this documentary fell short in that it never really told me anything about Jones and his doomed cult that I didn't already know. This is the story of the charismatic religious leader Jim Jones and his beginnings in Indiana to his moving to California and ultimately founding the Peoples Temple based in San Francisco where he built a large congregation of predominantly black parishioners and their families and former white hippies. He gained political clout but when an investigation into how is organization is run is launched he moves the temple to a remote South American jungle. It compiles news footage, grainy home movies from temple members and still photographs along with some interviews of people who lost family members and survivors. It's being submitted as a Best Documentary out of the USA to the Academy Awards but this is more of a television movie than a theatrical release. It leaves many unanswered questions as to where they got their weapons and cyanide? Who used the weapons to control the 900 into forcible suicide? What happened to those who oversaw the mass suicide? did they live and escape into the jungle? How did his hierarchy work? What happened to all the money that was being used to run Jonestown? This is a good documentary from director Stanley Nelson and writer Marcia Smith who have teamed together on several television documentaries. It's not great but it's worth a look. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10.

Jambie67 This story is so much more complex than news reports of the Guyana tragedy would have us believe. The members of The People's Temple had such altruistic intentions: they had a vision of a Utopian society where racial harmony and true brotherhood was the order of the day. They wanted to guarantee care for the poor, the elderly, children....and they wanted to create real community. This doco manages to tell the whole story, while honoring the pure intentions of the Temple members, and even shedding light on the paradoxical cult leader, Jim Jones - a man who was impressively liberal and progressive, politically, but frighteningly meglomaniacal and abusive, when it came to leading his "flock." The strength of this film lies in the fact that it isn't just a play-by-play from afar, but a collection of first-hand interviews with people who were actually there, and who knew the key players. A must-see for anyone who was alive and aware went these events took place.

londonviewer I saw this at the London Film Festival, and was impressed by what appeared to be a balanced picture - of both the Peoples Temple church and Jim Jones himself. The film is captivating in its chronological story telling, leading up to the tragic events in Guyana.However I did find the repeat use of some archival footage a bit weak, and unless I missed it, it was never explained that the "Planning Commission" was part of the Peoples Temple itself.Like any good documentary, it left me wanting to find out more, but I did think that it was an omission not to attempt any consideration of what led Jones to turn what had been a beneficial organisation, into a murderous one. Neither does the film attempt to look into how the organisation was run - presumably Jones couldn't have directly controlled the 1,000 inhabitants of Jonestown? The source of the poison and weapons is also a subject that doesn't feature, or the question of what happened to the money afterwards?Overall this is a really interesting film, especially for those of us who were too young to remember the events.