Product: Jonestown - The Life & Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Rating: 5.0
A Glimpse into the Tragedy of Religion Gone Wrong
This is a fascinating and chilling (if too brief) look into the history of Jim Jones and his People's Temple. What it offers beyond mere history, though, is a glimpse into the seductive nature of good turned into evil, through the eyes and words of people who at one time followed and believed in Jones. Most of them acknowledge some sense of strangeness, even psychosis, in the behavior of Jim Jones, but they chose to focus on the good he was doing and the utopian hope he was preaching publicly. And clearly in its early days, the People's Temple WAS doing good, and offering hope and a real sense of community - integrated community - to those who came through the doors. But somewhere, somehow, it all began to go wrong. And yet people averted their eyes, as Jones drifted deeper and deeper into madness and drug his followers with him. This film esposes these issues without rendering any judgment upon them - it reveals the dreams and the hopes that were shattered that November day in 1978 along with all those lives. It is a morality tale for anyone who knows the power and goodness, but also the dark side, of religious faith. I am a Presbyterian pastor, and I would highly, highly recommend this film - as hard as it is to watch at times - for anyone who is interested not just in history, but in the power of faith - a power that can do such good, and yet be used in the wrong hands, for such evil.