How could one man -- Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones -- persuade 900 people to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid in the jungles of Guyana? This penetrating portrait of the demented preacher attempts to answer that question. Using never-before-seen footage and audio accounts of two Jonestown survivors, documentarian Stanley Nelson paints a chilling picture of a social experiment gone horribly awry.



Rated NR 1 hour 29 minutes 2006


5 stars. Senseless and horrible. I thought this documentary was tremendous.I didn't know much about Jonestown aside from Guyana and the kool-aid before this movie. I could see that if I had been in SF in the mid 60s, I could have joined the People's Temple - social justice! racial harmony! it was a beautiful message - the director does a great job of showing that side of the movement to you, and like another member said, then they carry you along Jones' descent into insanity to the darker side of his character.