I saw this movie at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and highly recommend it to those interested in the psychology of cults and cult awareness:

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple

It is a documentary by one of the survivors and consists of historical footage, interviews and interesting lesser-known facts about how the temple was started and why people were drawn to it in the first place.

What I found so fascinating was the initial premise of the temple was very appealing, and all the survivors--even having gone through the horror they did-- said that the "early days" were wonderful and the initial purpose of the temple was a good path. (Integration and peace in the 60's)

I don't want to describe too much more--but it's not about the KoolAid. It's about the psychology of Jim Jones and the growing of the cult.

I'm not sure if it's out on DVD yet, but when it is, it's definitely worth renting.

~Maggie

I have heard wonderful things about this while in production. Thank you for the heads up!

It is not on DVD yet, but it has been shown at several major film festivals including Tribeca. According to the director, since PBS is involved, if its not picked up by theaters, PBS WILL release it next year.

Tribeca Site
Official website

I love the first two lines at the official website "Nobody joins a cult. Nobody joins something they think is going to hurt them."

Quote
Maggie
I saw this movie at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and highly recommend it to those interested in the psychology of cults and cult awareness:

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple

It is a documentary by one of the survivors and consists of historical footage, interviews and interesting lesser-known facts about how the temple was started and why people were drawn to it in the first place.

What I found so fascinating was the initial premise of the temple was very appealing, and all the survivors--even having gone through the horror they did-- said that the "early days" were wonderful and the initial purpose of the temple was a good path. (Integration and peace in the 60's)

I don't want to describe too much more--but it's not about the KoolAid. It's about the psychology of Jim Jones and the growing of the cult.

Actually, I would WARN people against this movie. It is being promoted by cult apologists like Massimo Introvigne and Gordon Melton, who featured it at their recent San Diego State CESNUR apologist conference. Rebecca Moore, who helped organize the CESNUR conference, is a Jonestown apologist whose sister had Jim Jones baby and another sister married Larry Layton, who was convicted of the murder of Leo Ryan.

[www.worldnetdaily.com]

"At this Maryland theater I asked:

Q: Mr. Nelson, in your interview with Matt Gonzales of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, you are quoted as saying: ''The article in the magazine New West that first exposed Jim Jones.''

And my question – I have two questions – is how could you say this, when years before New West, both the San Francisco Examiner and the Indianapolis Star, in September 1972, had a series of Page One stories, exposing Jones; with the Examiner being picketed by 150 of Jones' people, and the Examiner reporter being made No. 2 on Jim Jones' hit list?

Stanley Nelson: May I ask you who you are?

Q: I'm the San Francisco Examiner reporter. (Applause)

Nelson: What is your name, sir?

Q: My name is Les Kinsolving.

Nelson: Um, you know, part of what happens in documentary filmmaking is we're not able to tell all the info – I really don't' want to get into an argument about this. But I'm not able to tell the ins and outs of the story. What happened is that we spent a lot of time with Kinsolving's report. And-and-and how that fit in the story. The problem with-with-with that was that it kind of didn't go anywhere. You know that it was – it was the first expose of Jim Jones.

But it didn't stop Jim Jones. It didn't stop Peoples Temple. The New West article is what really pushed Jim Jones and Peoples Temple to go to Guyana.

So we were really aware of what that article said and really wanted to work it in.

There were a number of things in this story. There were things in this story than any film I have ever made, that aid – we kind of could not include-uh-because it was just such an intricate fascinating story. There were a lot of fascinating stories that – hopefully some of these stories will be on the DVD.

Q: Last year in March, the Associated Press and 10 California dailies, as well as the Washington Times reported that Jim Jones' former legal adviser, Tim Stoen, sent a handwritten apology to the former San Francisco Examiner reporter ''who first publicly exposed the Peoples Temple,'' asking that reporter: ''Forgive me. You were right about the Peoples Temple. I was totally wrong.''Why is this missing from your movie?

Nelson: The film does not talk about anything after November 18, 1978. So none of that is involved. But you know the story of Tim Stoen is a fascinating story – again another of the stories we wish we had been able to include. Tim Stoen was Jim Jones' main legal adviser. Tim Stoen signed an affidavit that he authorized Jim Jones to father a child with his wife. And that was one of the things that actually led to disaster at Jonestown. That was another one of these incredible stories that we just couldn't cover on this film, because we just didn't have the material to cover. So there were a lot of things, you know, ins and outs that we just couldn't cover. In this story, we got 90minutes. It could have been a mini-series.

Director Nelson's next questioner – from a microphone across the theater – came from the only other person whose identity he requested. My son, Tom Kinsolving, a teacher, who asked among other things about the following:

I think there are some valid points here – what do you edit out, what do you leave in? For example, using Rebecca Moore (one of Nelson's film narrators), I think it's very significant to report that her father was a propagandist for Jim Jones –

Nelson: That's not true at all!

Tom: They (Moore's parents) went down to Jonestown – if I could just finish – could I finish? They (Rev. and Mrs. Moore) went down to Jonestown – if I could just finish; they went down to Jonestown in May of 1978, right before that holocaust.

Nelson: Could I ask your name sir?

Tom Kinsolving: My name is Tom Kinsolving, and I've known him as long as I can remember.

Nelson: You're his son?

Tom: Absolutely. And I was very hurt that you didn't answer my e-mail, Stan. They defended Jim Jones and Jonestown. And I think these are important issues. Your film is a propaganda piece. I think you ought to do some editing! – Oh, you take away my mic? Take your hands off me! (This as an usher grabbed the microphone and Tom).

Nelson: You know it's 30 years almost after this happened. You know there are some questions I'd be glad to answer privately, but I don't think we need to fill up our time here, because we do have a limited amount of time.

(If this had been an interview rather than a Q&A with a capacity audience, I could have added the following questions:)

Question No. 1: Berkeley, California Methodist District Superintendent John V. Moore, on Aug. 21, 1975 wrote:

"I have known the Rev. Jim Jones and the work of the People's Temple for a number of years. I have been impressed with the quality of community life of the church and their service to the people who are unrelated to their church."

On Aug. 2, 1975, the Rev. Mr. Moore wrote me: "Your questions also were implying sinister motives and actions to my daughters. If you ever write or say anything of this sort, I will immediately turn the matter over to my attorney."

While one of Moore's daughters was featured in this movie, why was there no mention of her father's strong support of Jim Jones?

Question No. 2: You have not denied the San Francisco Bay Guardian's quoting you as saying it was "the article in the magazine New West that first exposed Jim Jones."

Now you have just told us that "Kinsolving's report … was the first expose of Jim Jones."

How can Kinsolving's reports – and the New West article six years later – BOTH be what you have designed as "the first expose of Jim Jones"?

Question No. 3: You said you "spent a lot of time with Kinsolving's report." Why do you refer to that in the singular, when The Examiner published, in September 1972, four reports of mine on Jim Jones, three of them on Page One? And why no mention of a similar series in the Indianapolis Star? I went to religion editors at 40 daily newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times begging them to send reporters – which they all refused to so.

And therefore, 912 people were murdered or persuaded to kill themselves by this murderous psychopath – in the worst moral disgrace in the history of American journalism.

Question No. 4: Your statement "The story of Tim Stoen is a fascinating story." But are all scenes in your movie more fascinating that Stoen, the deputy district attorney, who became Jones' chief legal adviser and who provided his wife for Jones to father a child with – after Stoen left the People's Temple and Jim Jones designated him as No. 1 on the hit list? '

I actually find Rebecca Moore and her website quite balanced.

[jonestown.sdsu.edu]

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dwest
I actually find Rebecca Moore and her website quite balanced.

[jonestown.sdsu.edu]

How "balanced" can a flat-out Jonestown apologist be? In this article, she has the absolute nerve to blame Leo Ryan and the people in Congress actually trying to DO something about Jonestown. Pathetic, "blame the victim".

[www.signonsandiego.com]

MOORE: "Yes, Jim Jones definitely was physically and mentally ill," she adds. "Yes, the people in Jonestown were physically isolated from the outside world. Yes, there were definitely strange things going on within the group. I certainly could never deny that. But at the same time, the members of Peoples Temple and the residents of Jonestown were responding to perceived and actual threats."

"….. But Janja Lalich, an expert in cultic groups, warns against shifting the blame to outsiders. "I think Jones triggered what happened," says Lalich, a sociologist at California State University Chico. "As a society, we have to be able to hold people accountable. Why should religious groups be sheltered from that?"

How balanced was the movie as presented?

I think before you bash any movie, you should at least see it, so you know what you are talking about. Otherwise, it's just hearsay.

I did not perceive it as an apologist's film. It's actually quite frightening by the end and would be a great deterrant. Ending with pictures of the dead and the ex-members talking about how devastating it is to hold your child in your hands while he died...

again, you have to see it.