Jim Jones (archival): Why of course you’d go, you went to Mexico with me. Check pbs.org for re-broadcast and purchase. Male Peoples Temple Member (archival): No. Fielding McGehee, Relative of Peoples Temple Member: There had been pressures on him to leave Indianapolis. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Jim Jones (archival): We started with about a hundred and forty-one people and from that, we’ve grown to a very thriving congregation. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, is a 2006 documentary film made by Firelight Media, produced and directed by Stanley Nelson.The documentary reveals new footage of the incidents surrounding the Peoples Temple and its leader Jim Jones who led over 900 members of his religious group to a settlement in Guyana called Jonestown, where he orchestrated a mass suicide with … Traditional Services were joyous occasions, more like Baptist revivals than the typical white Christian affair, and Jones' followers seemed genuinely devoted, buying into his snake-oil bit (including fake healings) and willingly forking over 20 percent or more of their incomes to him. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: My wife came up to me, she didn’t have no tears in her eyes. Corbis Jim Jones (archival): Well, then be seated and shut your mouth and don’t be in my face anymore. Woman (archival): You bring those kids back here! Stanley Clayton, Peoples Temple Member: When Ryan came, he came on a Friday night and we put on a reception for him. This is a documentary on The peoples Temple located in what was "Jonestown". Laura Johnston Kohl, Peoples Temple Member: December of ’75, ninety of us went by plane, into Guyana, and saw where we were building the community there. And pretty soon she is walking. “But it is very clear that the kids — something like 250 people who were under eighteen – were all murdered.” Stanley Clayton, one of the few who escaped alive, clearly states his opinion in the film: “That man was killin’ us.”, Teleplay by I was there the afternoon that Edith drove away. Jonestown. Chaos quickly ensued, and the film's final moments, in which Jones can be heard exhorting his crazed flock to drink the Kool-Aid, are genuinely harrowing. But when Jones was present, it was very, very dark. By Christmas, do you want to be gone?!! Congressman Leo Ryan (archival): I think that all of you know that I am here to find out more about — questions have been raised about your operation here. It was very sad, but it wasn’t a death march. On Sunday, November 18 1978, more than 900 members of The People's Temple … When Rosalyn Carter came to San Francisco, she gave Jim Jones a private audience. The documentary 'Jonestown The Life And Death Of Peoples Temple focuses on the emergence and fall of Jim Jones the leader of Peoples Temple who advised his followers to drink poison in mass suicide. or communication with parents or any kind of, you know, update that could show us, really, that there’s a whole other thing going on besides what Jim was interpreting for us. Getty Images They were well looked after. Laura Johnston Kohl, Peoples Temple member I remember someone coming to me and telling me that Congressman Ryan was dead. This is the man that wants to leave his son here. Other survivors might say differently, but for me, I was delighted. And — we were Star Trek fans. We all wanted to go. I’m thinking, “Where did all of these [expletive] guns come from?”. Robert B. Wright, Peoples Temple Collection at California Historical Society, On-camera interview subjects We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world. E. A. Phillips and Michelle G. Phillips It’s the church’s duty to have a place of protection for its people. Jim Jones (archival, subtitles): See, they’ve made progress on the road and leveled it, clear in to five miles. Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: I had been in the Temple for just a few months. He was on one phone and I was on — taping the other end of it, while somebody else listened on another one. He had a desk. The story is told through interviews with the surviving members of the People's Temple, their family members and the survivors of Congressman Leo Ryan's ill-fated trip to Guyana. MacDonald and Associates Janet Shular, Peoples Temple Member: People were brought up front and asked — had to tell who they had slept with and who they had sneaked off to a restaurant with. Then, shortly thereafter, Congressman Ryan starts walking out in this bloodstained shirt. Marshall Kilduff, Journalist: In San Francisco, Jones walked in on a sort of a wild kind of party, where there was a lot of new faces and new sources of power. I don’t know what kind of games people like. Mother, please, please, please don’t…Don’t do this! Mr. Jones had perfected the art of forming groups that were different and bizarre in all manner of ways but was interestingly able to hold the group together till the last minute. Jim Jones (archival, subtitles): I’m listening to you. San Francisco Chronicle Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. And she died in my arms. If you are in need of healthcare, you get healthcare. But this is a loyalty test and you need to turn them in.”. report. Neva Sly Hargrave, Peoples Temple Member: What he spoke about were things that were in our hearts. Male Peoples Temple Member (archival): Won’t listen to you, huh? Hue Fortson Jr., Peoples Temple Member: Then they begin to say what her breasts looked like, her stomach, butt, vagina, you name it. Stanley Nelson . Jordan Vilchez, Peoples Temple Member: It’s like a child in a dysfunctional family. And so anyone that showed any interest in sex was just compensating. Eugene Cordell, Relative of Peoples Temple member - "" - Director . Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: Literally, out of nowhere, this storm came blowing in. At that same time, he’s falling to the ground and he’s going into convulsion.