Man (archival, subtitles): Christine, your life has been extended to today. The most forbidden thing to express was to leave. We saw this beautiful sign, “Welcome to Jonestown.”. Come and I’ll give you a home.

Female Peoples Temple Member (archival): He said, “I really want to get away from him. We had an African American, we had two American Asian and we had his natural son, homemade. And as I lay there frightened, not sure what to do, and as I shivered, he’d say to me, “This is for you. We didn’t commit suicide. I’m thinking, “Where did all of these [expletive] guns come from?”. Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: I had traveled on Bus Seven, which was Jim’s bus. Jen Holmes Guy Morrison But don’t do this. The birds gather on the telephone wires. Stand up. He understood how it was to be treated differently. Female (archival): Definitely. And he realizes that this article is going to be hugely damning, and it was midway through it he mouths to all of us in the room, “We’re leaving tonight.” They flew out to Guyana, six hours before that article was going to hit. Stephen Sung, sound technician And most people, once the going gets rough, don’t jump out immediately. Bryan Kravitz, Peoples Temple Member: He was there for three evenings, and the third evening I went off on the bus and came to California. You’re my people. I just beg you, please leave us.

Stephen Sung, Sound Technician: We were there, supposed to interview some of the family members to ask them why they cannot leave. Vernon Gosney, Peoples Temple Member: A father would turn in a son. Title: Relative of Peoples Temple Member (archival): I think that Jim Jones took his group down there because he was afraid to face the publicity and answer the questions here in this country. We were alive in those services. Neva Sly Hargrave, Peoples Temple Member: One of the most incredible healings, to me, was this little old lady and she was in a wheelchair.

-Jim Jones, founder, Peoples Temple. Elspeth Domville You must be insane.

It might not never happen. And that is how he brought so many young college kids in, so many older black women in, so many people from diverse backgrounds who realized that there was something bigger than themselves that they needed to be involved in — and that Jim Jones offered that. Trailer Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple: Trailer. This doco manages to tell the whole story, while honoring the pure intentions of the Temple members, and even shedding light on the paradoxical cult leader, Jim Jones - a man who was impressively liberal and progressive, politically, but frighteningly meglomaniacal and abusive, when it came to leading his "flock." If I needed clothes, that was taken care of. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection

Had nothing to do with revolutionary suicide, nothing to do about making a [expletive] statement, it was just senseless waste, senseless waste and death. Three-hundred miles into the jungle, we literally built a city in the middle of the jungle, in the middle of nowhere. Jim Jones (archival): Some people see a great deal of God in my body. 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. Published by EMI Longitude Music Robert B. Wright, Peoples Temple Collection at California Historical Society, On-camera interview subjects And once I laid her down and she told me how she wanted to lay with her grandmother, I — at that point, knew that I didn’t have no reason to be here no more.

There were many reasons for many people to admire, love, excuse, overlook much of what Jim did. Grace Stoen, Peoples Temple Member: One of the powerful things that Jim used, to keep us to not think, was that we were never really allowed to speak with one another. And there I am involved.

Rebecca Moore, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: Peoples Temple really was a black church.

Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: I ain’t never used the term “suicide,” and I’m not gonna never use the term “suicide.” That man killed — was killing us.

Vernon Gosney, Peoples Temple Member: If you had a demonstration in San Francisco and you wanted people to show up, Jim Jones — the Peoples Temple — could be there in twenty minutes, with hundreds of people. The trailer comes to a stop and then you can see the wooden pathway that leads to the pavilion. This documentary tells the story of the people who joined Peoples Temple, following Jones from Indiana to California and ultimately to their deaths in Guyana in November 1978. Jim Jones (archival, subtitles): You can’t know how much of a conspiracy there is in the U.S. these days. Do you want to go home? Hue Fortson Jr., Peoples Temple Member: He said, “If you see me as your friend, I’ll be your friend. Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: Jones came down off the podium and he said, “Hey, we got to do this.

Performed by The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch. On the surface, Jim Jones and his multiracial congregation, Peoples Temple, espoused the values of a model society. c/o Carlin America, Inc. The moment I think of it a great deal of pain comes.

Well, I slept an hour-and-a-half.”. There was no freedom to express to one another what was going on, because everything was suspect. He had a bed. Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society Just vulcanize yourself.”. Oh, what he’s done for me. And I was waiting on pins and needles, and I was talking to her probably twice a week on the hand radio and Leona Collier came up, “Ok, Eugene it’s your time, you’re going over.”, Coming into Jonestown, you see a guard at the front gate and you’re all excited, you’re going down this road. Looking for some great streaming picks? Darkness settles over Jonestown on its last day on Earth.”. Listen, he was in a dysfunctional family. 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. It was enough for the Congressman to say, “You know what? RELEASED JUNE 24th 2014 I 88 MIN. Hue Fortson Jr., Peoples Temple Member: And he said, “What you need to believe in is what you can see.” He said, “If you see me as your friend, I’ll be your friend. Rebecca Moore, relative of Peoples Temple member

Jim Baldwin There was a fire in the San Francisco Temple. Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: In Jonestown, there was a speaker system and only Jim spoke on it. I had a copy of the Congressman’s will and placed it in a particular drawer in my desk, just in case.

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.”. You think they’re going to allow us to get by with this?

Coming there, being there in the meetings, sitting, listening — you know, supporting, working. You know, cyanide makes people froth at the mouth.

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.

Frank Johnston, The Washington Post

Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: When Ryan came, he came on a Friday night and we put on a reception for him. Wherever there are people struggling for justice and righteousness, there I am.” Rebecca Moore, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: California is perceived to be a very progressive state. Mike Touchette, Peoples Temple Member (archival): Hello family. She said, “I can feel it.” He said, “Yes, I know you can feel it. Hailed as “surreal and heartbreaking” (The Village Voice) and “chilling” (San Francisco Chronicle), the 90-minute American Experience film features first-hand recollections of former Peoples Temple members, including some who narrowly escaped death in those frantic, final days in the South American jungle; relatives of those who died; and candid interviews with Jones’s son, Jim Jones, Jr. “We wanted the story to be told in the voices of the people who lived through it,” explains Nelson. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: Literally, out of nowhere, this storm came blowing in. Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: I grabbed the kid from the shoulders up, and in that process of taking him out of the pavilion, this kid died in my arms. There was all these different scenarios that were presented.

And she died in my arms. Performed by the Sterling Jubilee Singers Kelly Frankeny Joyce Shaw-Houston, Peoples Temple member Male Peoples Temple Member (archival): What you think about your friends back down in the States? I mean this reporter said, “We got our story.” You know, “The story’s here. Tim Reiterman, Journalist: Jim Jones, I think, realized that ultimately Ukiah was not the sort of climate where Peoples Temple would thrive.

Jackie Speier, Aide to Congressman Leo Ryan: It was a vibrant community. Laura Bowman She died in my arms, man.

You could sit here and talk all day long and no words could describe the peace, the beauty, the sense of accomplishment and responsibility and camaraderie that’s here. Don’t lay down with tears and agony! And that’s it. I think the only way he can survive and sustain what he started is to isolate all his followers from this country and from their families.

Tim Reiterman, Journalist: There were people tumbling and yelling and letting out cries as they were hit.

Because it just seemed so beautiful. It’s been a — it’s such a joy and great pleasure being here, because of Father’s love. Nobody’s gonna come out of the sky! There were maybe eight or nine other people who were dying, or in the process of dying.

Check out our picks for movies that (hopefully) won't keep you up at night. You were a shareholder of Jonestown if you were African American.