Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2008. It was very sad, but it wasn’t a death march. Former Peoples Temple Member (archival): My impression now — that those are fronts for him. Grace Stoen, Peoples Temple Member: Peoples Temple truly had the potential to be something big and powerful and great, and yet for whatever reason, Jim took the other road. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Narrator (anonymous letter, archival): “A teeny kitten sits next to me watching. My son was dead and he was frothing at the mouth. Where there is no rich or poor. Jim and Marceline actually went to adopt a Caucasian child. Robert Shepard Not Indianapolis, which seems hopeless, but California, which seems to be the Promised Land. [Expletive] slaughtered. Patricia Ryan, Personal Collection That you’re standing there is because of him. Moore Family Collection 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). Nobody knew that until perhaps it was their time to find out. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: The songs that we sang that night — it was people saying, “This is who we are and this is what we are about.”. When we came back, something had happened. But for people to come from extremely religious backgrounds — so that I can bring them forward to the message that’s so important for all of us today and that is activism — then I need to speak on each person’s level.”, Hue Fortson Jr., Peoples Temple Member: He said, “A lot of you people, you Christian people coming in, you’re so hung-up on this Bible.” He said, “This black book has held down black people for the last two-hundred years.” He said, “But I’m going to show you this has no power.” So he leaned way back like a football player and he flung it. It was green. Five years later, an extended family of eighty people had become an organization of thousands. Andrea Robinson “Stanley Clayton, up, front, center.”, Janet Shular, Peoples Temple Member: He would ask people, “What do you think we ought to do with them? There was nothing dignified about it. When Guyanese authorities arrived at Jonestown on November 19, 1978, the only survivor present was Hyacinth Thrash, a 76-year-old black woman who had joined Peoples Temple in Indianapolis. We didn’t really get the story until we were in the car going home. “I gave my rights up to him. I’m right now making a call to Russia. Anthony Simons Glen Hennington But I was at a point where I didn’t know how much more time I was going to be alive. They have no problem about getting out of here. People file by us slowly and take the somewhat bitter drink. The government was infiltrating and wiretapping and trying to kill people or assassinate people. Oh, what’s he done for me. Their alarming stories focused on a compound known as Jonestown, a group called the Peoples Temple and its leader, Jim Jones. Move forward, darlin’. Did he feel like he was potent and — and omnipotent enough to really get people to kill themselves when he said so? But our senior citizen homes, they’re elegant. MacDonald and Associates Juanell Smart, Peoples Temple Member: When people heard Jim, they didn’t look upon him as being a white preacher, you know. report. Jim Jones (archival, subtitles): Feeling as an outcast, I’d early developed a sensitivity for the problems of blacks. Rev. Close • Posted by just now. Watch Jonestown: The Life And Death Of Peoples Temple movie trailer and get the latest cast info, photos, movie review and more on TVGuide.com. Spurred by negative news reports covering defectors from the church—who told of physical abuse, sexual improprieties, and other dysfunctional activities—Jones abruptly moved the Peoples Temple to the Guyana farming commune, “Jonestown,” in 1977. Rebecca Moore lost her two sisters and nephew. You’re going to walk again.” And the whole auditorium went totally crazy. My biggest problem was getting somebody to sort of talk to me about the Church in kind of conversational terms. Claire Janaro, Peoples Temple Member: When I saw Redwood Valley, I couldn’t believe my eyes because it was like a paradise. We must never allow that because this is the kind of thing that ushers in the terror of a Hitler’s Germany. And that the women were all lesbians and the guys were all gay. Neva Sly Hargrave, Peoples Temple Member: Jim started changing a lot in the seventies. And I’m sitting there petrified because I’m like, “Is this what it’s leading to, that I’m supposed to get to?” And I’m thinking, “hmmm.” But I played it off like, “Okay, I’m being cool. We saw this beautiful sign, “Welcome to Jonestown.”. Composed by George M. Cohan Jim Jones (archival): Come forth, my dear. And that’s it. They got up in the audience and they said they disagreed with him. They were there. Vernon Gosney, Peoples Temple Member: There was a lot of preparation for Congressman Ryan’s visit. Join mailing list at www.firelightmedia.org. Please try again. I would be free to go. He had books. They drove this truck all the way across the airstrip and stop on this side of the plane, so literally they cut us off from the jungle. It was emotional. Make your decisions — sixty percent of your decisions — based on logic, fact and reason, and allow emotion to be the secondary motivator. John R. Hall, sociologist I’m not able to say…But I do know it’s real. I Never Heard a Man As a child I was undoubtedly one of the poor in the community, never accepted. When it hit the floor, he stood and he looked back and forth. Kristine Kravitz, Peoples Temple member KTVU By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing, I’m a Soldier (In The Army of the Lord) We didn’t commit suicide. He said, “Now, did you see any lightning come from the sky and strike me dead?”. Quite fascinating and informative, Ever wonder what a cultist community looks like? Jim Jones Jr., Peoples Temple Member: I was the first Negro child adopted by a Caucasian family in the state of Indiana. Vernon Gosney, Peoples Temple Member: When Congressman Ryan came, I wanted to pass him a note that said, “Help us get out of Jonestown.” When one of the reporters was walking around toward the edge of the pavilion, I stuck the note in the fold of his arm and it fell to the ground. Quickly! Everything they could think of, they were saying. Bill, we will bother nobody. Add a gift receipt for easy returns. Katie Marsh, Kounterattack Design, Audio Restoration Not Mississippi, I’m talking about New York State. The Peoples Temple congregation was sizably African-American. There was a fire in the San Francisco Temple. Tim Carter, Stanley Clayton and three others escaped into the jungle. We got a nice name for it now. Jim Jones Jr., Peoples Temple Member: And he was kind of left to his own devices. Narrator (anonymous letter, archival): “There’s quiet as we leave this world. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: As soon as I walked into the San Francisco temple, I was home. Reporter (archival): Doesn’t it concern you, though, that this man, for whatever reason, one of the people in your group…. Man (archival, subtitles): Christine, your life has been extended to today. Jim Jones (archival): Now, will each of you give a very fond embrace, a salutary kiss of greeting to your neighbor — and let’s fill this atmosphere with warmth and love. When Rosalyn Carter came to San Francisco, she gave Jim Jones a private audience. Jim Jones (archival): We had a lady who visited us a week ago here and was speaking to one at the door, and she was a member of a prominent church, a pastor’s wife, and she said, “I think that the poor should be made to control how many children they bring into the earth.” You remember? April 10, 2007 by Frank Gantz. In each article, tv special or book about cults, Jonestown can't be missing. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: I went back to my cottage. Phyllis Wilmore-Zimmerman, Childhood Friend: Jimmy’s father did not work, did not have a job, and was a drunk. Jim Jones Jr., Peoples Temple Member: My father used to tell me that people’s lives — sixty percent of people’s lives — were made on emotional decisions. Where there are no races. Joyce Shaw-Houston, Peoples Temple member Composed by Charles Stepney, Maurice White, and Verdine Adams White That there were outside forces who didn’t want us to do what we were doing. Bless your heart. “I represent divine principle, total equality, a society where people own all things in common, where there’s no rich or poor, where there are no races. I would never have imagined that twenty-four hours later, those people would be dead. --Sam Graham. Female Peoples Temple Member (archival): But they won’t listen to me. And as I lay there frightened, not sure what to do, and as I shivered, he’d say to me, “This is for you. Now, is the pain gone? I would like to go. What more do you suggest? Mike Touchette, Peoples Temple member Janet Shular, Peoples Temple Member: Well it wasn’t about our loyalty, because we were demonstrating loyalty all the time. I mean, I just felt the life go out of him. I recall watching a documentary on Jim Jones on the Discovery or History channel (I forget which one), and my father telling me that he actually remembered the "Guyana Tragedy" being on TV back in 1978. Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: My wife came up to me, she didn’t have no tears in her eyes. Doubletree Hotel Berkeley Marina Jim didn’t understand that there was no way he could talk her down from whatever this article was going to say. Christine Miller, Peoples Temple Member (archival, subtitles): I look at all the babies, and I think they deserve to live. It’s blasphemy! You’re my people. Christine Miller, Peoples Temple Member (archival, subtitles): When we destroy ourselves, we’re defeated. Composed and Performed by Timmy Thomas Jonestown: The Life & Death of Peoples Temple [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] US Import Rated: NR (Not Rated) Format: DVD. Nobody’s gonna come out of the sky! Phyllis Zimmerman, Personal Collection Susan Sutton, Indiana Historical Society Ed Rudolph, Video Arts/San Francisco, Online Editor Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: What was once a really boring meeting, all of a sudden, became like really interesting when Jim Jones became the head of it — because we all came down on the buses. And — and all these people that were like my age, they were clean. We wanted to live, to shine, to bring light to a world that is dying for a little bit of love.”. My wife was there. Stephen Sung, Sound Technician: We were there, supposed to interview some of the family members to ask them why they cannot leave. And I was sitting there and I thought, “That’s weird — it smells like alcohol next to me.” And he leaned over and he said, “Do you know what you do to me?” He had informed me that I was to come in — on Bus Seven, there was a room in the back for just him. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: What I saw that creation as being was building a city where we could move and raise our children, outside of the oppression and the racism of the United States of America. And Jones happened to be coming out of his room and he said, “Hi Tim, how are you doing? Jim Jones attracted a large following to his Peoples Temple through sermons on tolerance, social responsibility and community. And he waited until it hit the floor — POW! Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: You might fight five people in one night. On November 17, 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan traveled to Guyana to investigate the concerns of constituents. And we would be enthusiastic. I must confess (that prior to viewing this film) I was wholly ignorant as to the facts surrounding the Jonestown massacre. 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. Lovella Brown And I’m just hugging people and it’s just — it’s like, I have arrived and everything is going to be okay now. Yes, we tried it. 3. Unable to add item to List. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: I had been in the Temple for just a few months. Joyce Shaw-Houston, Peoples Temple Member: Jim said that this was a test of loyalty. And she called the manager of the station up and they talked to me about leaving. They wanted them to feel that there was an outside world — that Jones was wrong about telling people they could never leave the church, and that they would be treated badly in the real world. Gloria and I were laid down on the cot and we just held each other and I said, “You know, I think we may all die.” And she said — she kind of looked at me and then she looked down at our son, who was playing on the floor with the toys, and she said, “You’re scaring him.” I had literally opened my mouth to say we need to leave, when there was an announcement on the loud speaker — “Will everybody report to the pavilion for a meeting.”. Haven’t seen my mother in over a year or so. Who — people like publicity. Lionel Wedekind Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples’ Temple Essay The tragedy of People’s Temple is one of the events that highlighted the danger of many destructive cults. Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: In Jonestown, there was a speaker system and only Jim spoke on it. They did not like this integration part of the services. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple is a tremendously powerful piece of work that—through detailed research, revelatory archival footage, and heartrending accounts by some of the very few survivors—serves as an unforgettable historical portrait of a poorly understood chapter in American history for generations to come. We have different containers surrounding the place — we couldn’t go through all of the tremendous inventory they built up. (On-screen text): Voice of Jim Jones, 1953. And when he flung it and let it go, the place got dead quiet like. archival photos and film footage used are amazing. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. Okay, if that’s where they at, that’s not where I’m at.” Because I’m thinking, “My wife — I’m happy with my wife. But if it’s so damned bad, why is he leaving his son here? We can not have this! Directed by Stanley Nelson. The message was, “You are betraying me.”. Oh, no. Bryan Kravitz, Peoples Temple Member: I decided not to go to Vietnam, and I was just at the point of what am I going to do with myself? And I’ll say this about November 18th, I felt I’d lost a family and I knew I’d lost my children. (Singing, archival): Welcome, welcome all of you. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. And then we got an allowance — five dollars a week. Oddball Film+Video Eugene Cordell, Relative of Peoples Temple member The Peoples Temple congregation was sizably African-American. Eugene Cordell, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: I told Edith, “If you follow Jimmy to California, you’re crazy.” So what did Jimmy do, but took her to a psychiatrist and sent me a certified letter that she is of sound mind, and she is not crazy. You could hear it when you’re in the outhouse. Jim Jones (archival): Now in this church, what have we done in a short time? Do you think they ought to get a good boxing?” And then he’d get a resounding roar, “Yes!”. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: I have a conscious memory of sitting there, thinking to myself, “This is wrong.” And I didn’t do a damned thing to stand up and say, “This is wrong.”. Jim Jones (archival): Somebody is gonna get on the freedom train in Philadelphia! Using archival film footage and interviews with the few survivors, Nelson recounts the origins of the church's formation and its charismatic leader, and the events that led up to their doomsday in Guyana. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE goes beyond the headlines to provide a revealing portrait of Jones and The Peoples Temple. “Of the five people who survived, there are — to my knowledge — three left alive. He was on one phone and I was on — taping the other end of it, while somebody else listened on another one. I wanted to go. Maybe it’s economics? Please, just let me catch my breath; let me figure out what’s happening here. They try to hide underneath the wheels. He and I were Star Trek fans, and he used to always say, “Just vulcanize yourself. Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: Nobody joins a cult. Eugene Smith, Peoples Temple member So is England. Never heard a man speak like this man before. You’re not taking my kids! There were many reasons for many people to admire, love, excuse, overlook much of what Jim did. Jordan Vilchez, Peoples Temple Member: No matter where you were, you could hear. Check pbs.org for re-broadcast and purchase. It’s overwhelming, it really is. Woman (archival): Don’t you touch my kids! And she went up to that Kool-Aid, to that death barrel and she just, I mean — didn’t hesitate, just took it and drunk it and then told me to hold her, to take her, and I did. You know, we just had fun with it as it grew. Courtesy of Vee-Jay Ltd. Partnership, That’s The Way Of The World Jim Jones (archival): He’s the one that I’m just talking about. John R. Hall, Sociologist: They were giving their life’s money and savings to the church, but in exchange, the church was agreeing to take care of them in the community, not just in a nursing home. But some people like publicity. Eugene Smith, Peoples Temple Member: We were people that — we wanted to make a change. Mike Touchette, Peoples Temple Member: When I first went into Jonestown, it was just a footpath in the rainforest. The story of this movement, this action, must be examined over and over. Female Peoples Temple Member (archival): Well. They were tailor-made for a political rally. Unfassbar. Fulcrum TV They had cabins. We have four senior citizens’ homes that are the most innovating, the most beautiful you want to see. Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. Why Can’t We Live Together The message of Peoples Temple was, “No, the dream is alive.”. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Claire Janaro, Peoples Temple Member: The purpose of the bus trips was to spread Jim’s beliefs about socialism and the world, and how we can live a better life and about an integrated lifestyle. Phyllis Wilmore Zimmerman, childhood friend of Jim Jones, Special Thanks Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society Rebecca Moore, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: I vividly remember the first time that I met Jim Jones. Jackie Speier, Aide to Congressman Leo Ryan: Then the Congressman ran under the plane, and I sort of followed suit and got behind one of the tires. A first class documentary film. We were alive in those services. The moment it stopped, they start shooting right away. Having this vision to change the world, but having this whole undercurrent of dysfunction that was underneath that vision. Spurred by negative news reports covering defectors from the church—who told of physical abuse, sexual improprieties, and other dysfunctional activities—Jones abruptly moved the Peoples Temple to the Guyana farming commune, “Jonestown,” in … They had a little medical clinic, a little daycare area. You were a shareholder of Jonestown if you were African American. Laura Johnston Kohl, Peoples Temple Member: We thought of ourselves as one big family that did handle our own discipline. £14.36 . 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. As you see me as your father, I’ll be your father, for those of you that don’t have a father.” He said, “If you see me as your savior, I’ll be your savior.” He said, even so, “If you see me as your God, I’ll be your God.”. At that same time, he’s falling to the ground and he’s going into convulsion. We had Indians in front of us with machetes, and we had Indians behind us with machetes. Eugene Cordell, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: We had some people that disagreed with Jimmy. Well, you know, you’re very tired! “They saw themselves changing the world, with the church as a tool,” he says, noting that Jones offered prospective members jobs, homes, and a sense of common purpose — striving to create a just world. A division of Universal Music Publishing Group Really, it’s beautiful to see that all these divisions have been broken down — not only race, but any differences of economic position. Female (archival): Oh, I should say I am. Edith Parks walked up to Jackie Speier and said, “I’m being held prisoner here, I want to go home.”. DVD £43.46 Additional DVD options: Edition Discs Amazon Price New from Used from DVD 6 April 2009 "Please retry" — 1. Sort by . The Life & Death of Peoples Temple. … Many more must drink.”. We did ask people to leave the church one night because of that. Hue Fortson Jr., Peoples Temple Member: He had gotten to the place that even his voice was becoming slurred, and he said it was because the nurse was giving him the wrong medications. They stared at us for a little bit, but they didn’t say one word. 2006. Jim Jones (archival, subtitles): I agree, Christine Miller, Peoples Temple Member (archival, subtitles): You know…. The documentary 'Jonestown The Life And Death Of Peoples Temple focuses on the emergence and fall of Jim Jones the leader of Peoples Temple who advised his followers to drink poison in mass suicide. And he was getting more and more paranoid. I don’t. "They were wonderful people. People didn’t look at Jim as being white. There were people who were packing their belongings and leaving their homes — with virtually no explanation to their family members as to where they were going or why they were going. People were being taken to airports. And that’s the kind of religious thing that I am excited about, and have some respect for. The Peoples Temple relocated to California in the 1960s. So we have to be even stronger. Take that step. Kool-aid —. And I can tell you right now, that from the few conversations I’ve had with some of the folks here already this evening, that whatever these comments are — there are some people here who believe that this is the best thing they’ve ever had in their whole lives. Directed by Stanley Nelson ("Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"), the doc dives into a trove of archival footage to tell the story of the Black Panthers and provides new interviews. They’ll torture some of our children here. It was rural. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: That’s when I noticed that there were armed guards that had kind of taken positions up around the pavilion. Kelsey Dorwart He just kind of praised us. Darkness settles over Jonestown on its last day on Earth.”. That's one of the many telling Jones anecdotes that director Stanley Nelson digs up for Jonestown: The Life And Death Of Peoples Temple, a documentary that goes behind the 1978 mass suicide of Jones' disciples in Guyana and tries to explain how any person—let alone 900 people—could volunteer to kill themselves just because a preacher told them to.
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