This film, produced for PBS' "American Experience" series, takes a sobering look at one of the more shocking tragedies of the 70s, when Reverend Jim Jones coerced 909 members of his religious cult, The Peoples Temple, to take their own lives in the jungles of Guyana. It's a fascinating story, and even nearly 30 years later, still hard to fathom ever actually happening.

The film documents Jones' childhood, where he was an outcast, up through his gradual rise as the charismatic-but-disturbed leader of his own church, which had thousands of members, arguably becoming the largest cult in history. At the height of his so-called career, Jones also had considerable political influence, that is, until stories began to leak that the Peoples Temple often held sway over its members through intimidation and abuse. This was roughly the time he and about a thousand members of the Peoples Temple defected to Jonestown, a community the temple built in the Guyana jungle, presumably for religious freedom, but mostly so Jones could more effectively control those beneath him. Of course, most of us knows the tragic outcome: 909 people dead, many of them children, who willingly ingested cyanide at the behest of Jones, whose drug-induced paranoia was rampant at this time. "Jonestown" wisely allows family and cult members to tell the story, along with a few media figures, whose revealing interviews are interspersed among the archive footage of Jones' rise & fall. Through them, we see that Jones' initial ideas of tolerance & love may have been admirable, but the man himself ultimately became a drug-addicted megalomaniac, who routinely abused members of his church, psychologically, physically & sexually. It goes without saying the whole story is more than a bit disturbing, but what's truly unnerving about this film is how many of the interviewed surviving members of the Peoples Temple still seem to look back fondly at their time with the Peoples Temple, almost with a sense of remorse that it's gone, even though its leader was the de-facto mass murderer of hundreds. Even now, few of the interviewees appear to express much remorse about being involved with the Peoples Temple, despite the fact many of their family members & friends are now dead.

The film is presented in widescreen, as are most of the installments in the "American Experience" series. Aside from the interviews, much of the film consists of really old footage, so there's a lot of noticeable artifacts. The audio is presented in simple Dolby Stereo, and it's fairly clear.

There's a 10 minute interview with director Stanley Nelson, voiced over footage from the film, and some deleted scenes.

"Jonestown" is a harrowing, sometimes shocking film (it's still hard to believe one man could hold such effective sway over so many), but it's a morbidly fascinating journey into madness, told by those who personally knew Jim Jones (and some of who still may not be all that level-headed). Highly recommended.