I
have always been fascinated by cults. One of the best comments in the
documentary Jonestown: The Life And Death of People’s Temple, is that
nobody joins a group thinking it is a cult.
"Nobody joins a cult. Nobody joins something they think is going to
hurt them. You join a religious organization, you join a political
movement, and you join with people that you really like," said Deborah
Layton, a Peoples Temple member who wrote a book about the experience.
People join groups because they think the cause is good and just or they want the camaraderie it provides. I once asked a Civil War reenactor whether he thought the
camaraderie he gets with his reenactor buddies is much different from
the camaraderie gang members get.
The reenactor did not like or understand my question so I changed
the topic. But I maintain I was on to something: We all want to belong
to something. There is nothing like the feeling of being accepted into
something bigger than ourselves. For some of us, that bigger something
is our family. But for people with broken families or families with
members in jails, members will seek out other groups.
I think a major reason why people join gangs is so they can have
that feeling of being part of something. The gang also provides sort of a
replacement family.
What does this have to do with cults? I see joining a cult as being
like joining a gang. You join a group because it is doing something. You
don’t think it will end, as People’s Temple did, with more than 900
members dead in a mass suicide on a compound in Guyana on Nov. 17, 1978.
But with street gangs you can, hopefully, point out to gang members
the physical and legal dangers they will face because of the connection
between many gangs and crime and violence.
In contrast, many cults are not breaking any laws (initially, though
many seem to later on) and in fact often preach that they are working
for justice.
This documentary focuses on the Peoples Temple, the cult run by Jim
Jones, but it can teach lessons far beyond that one specific group.
The movie is powerful, moving, engaging, disturbing and educational, a real emotional roller coaster.
The directors treat the subject with empathy rather than sympathy.
Instead of just making us pity those killed, and the few who survived,
the Jonestown massacre it helps us understand – and better appreciate
and learn from – what actually happened.
The first step, of course,
is understanding who exactly Jim Jones was. He had a frightening,
disturbing upbringing, providing funerals for dead pets, for example.
But the important thing I learned was that he was charismatic and very
passionate on the subject of racial harmony.
The second step is getting us to understand that it functioned in
almost every way as a traditional black church with much passion,
singing, emotion. The fact he was white was ignored or explained because
he understood and spoke like the black members, members said.
The movie’s best draw is that it has interviews with people who were
long-time members of the church and survived the attacks and they are
able to walk us, the viewers, through the growth of the church, the
church’s movie from the Bay Area to the jungles of Guyana and the
ultimate massacre.
We learn, for example, that Jones was not above some common tricks
such as having a member pretend to be crippled so he can “heal” her.
Sometimes it’s not enough to be charismatic, the cult leader needs some
extra edges and a few fake miracles help with that.
As with many cults, there is a weird sexual element. In this case
Jones claims that everyone was homosexual except him. While forbidding
all members to have sex with each other, calling it selfish and
irrational, he had sex with male and female members.
The movie reminded me of the time I wrote some feature stories on a
college friend who was a straight-edge punk guitarist who was also a
member of the Los Angeles sect of the Hari Krishna. I went with him to
two services. I was never interested in joining but I was interested in
understanding its appeal. And in a way I did: The appeal there, like the
appeal of People’s Temple, comes from believing you are part of
something beautiful and true and just and you are working to improve the
word. Who, believing those things, would consider what they are doing
as bad?
But what happens when some decide this is far from the utopia Jones
portrayed it as and instead there is sexual assaults, drug use, welfare
fraud, etc and they want to leave? But Jones did not want anyone to
leave, he saw it as a personal betrayal, and that’s when things get
problematic.
People's desire to leave the group is part of what led to its sudden
demise. The move to another country was sparked by negative media
reports of strange things going on within the group. That led
Congressman Leo Ryan, in November 1978, to take a fact-finding mission
to the temple.
The most chilling parts of the movie come, as you might expect, when
you watch the footage (including new audio footage) of Jones and others
at the temple during their final hours. Members at first tell Ryan that
they are happy with the group. At first things seem fine. For a minute
you think maybe this won’t turn bad after all.
This footage is intercut with interviews with two survivors who
escaped. One of them suspected things were going to get violent. In one
of the more disturbing memories shared the survivor said he told Ryan
that he needs to be careful. Ryan told him that there was a shield
around him, since he was a congressman, and nobody would harm. Talk
about bad foreshadowing.
We are reminded that Jones had previously distributed juice to all
members, had them drink it and then told them they had all been
poisoned. After the members began to freak out he told them it was just a
loyalty test. But apparently as Ryan arrived they began to bring out
the juice again. Incidentally it's often referred to as Kool-Aid as in
the saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" but it is actually Flavor-Aid.
Anyway, so at first Ryan’s visit is going fine but then some began to
speak about wanting to leave. Jones is adamant that nobody will leave.
Footage is shown of one woman screaming about being separated from a
child who is leaving.
Things unravel fast and after a man ties to attack Ryan. the
congressman and his group leaves but is attacked, ambushed really, at a
nearby airport. The congressman and others are killed.
About 45 minutes later, as those who did the attacks at the airport
return to camp, Jones tells those assembled at a meeting that the
congressman is dead. Then the really ugly business of poisoning them -
first the babies then the adults - begins.
Jones can be heard saying, "Die with a degree of dignity! Don't lay
down with tears and agony! It's nothing to death. It's just stepping
over into another plane. Don't, don't be this way," according to a
PBS transcript.
He is later heard saying, "Quickly! Quickly! Quickly! Quickly! Quickly!
Where is the vat? The vat, the vat...Bring it here, so the adults can
begin."
Ultimately, all but four are killed by the poisoned punch or, in a
few cases including Jones himself, gunshots. Two survivors brought me
near tears as they told about escaping from the camp after watching
family members die.
Indeed, both families – their direct families and the larger family of the cult – had died.
There is an intriguing semantic issue that arises late in the movie:
Is it appropriate to call it a mass suicide when some were babies and
some just didn't know what they were doing?
Jones put it this way: "We laid it down...we got tired. We didn't
commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting
the conditions of an inhumane world."
Tim Carter, one of those I mentioned who escaped after watching his
family die, said: "We were just @!$%#ing slaughtered. @!$%#ing
slaughtered. There was nothing dignified about it. Had nothing to do
with revolutionary suicide, nothing to do about making a [expletive]
statement, it was just senseless waste, senseless waste and death."
I’m sure some of you may hesitate to rent this because you see it as
“a piece of history” or “something depressing” but this is much more
than that – this is a glimpse into a part of life and society most
people don’t spend enough time contemplating or discussing.
I encourage you to rent this and then join our discussion of the movie at Newsvine.
Incidentally, the DVD has some great extras, including longer
interviews with the survivors and relatives of some of those killed.
I want to leave you with the contents of an anonymous note found at Jonestown:
To whomever finds this note. Collect all the tapes, all the writing,
all the history. The story of this movement, this action, must be
examined over and over. We did not want this kind of ending. We wanted
to live, to shine, to bring light to a world that is dying for a little
bit of love.
There's quiet as we leave this world. The sky is gray. People file
by us slowly and take the somewhat bitter drink. Many more must drink.
A teeny kitten sits next to me watching. A dog barks. The birds
gather on the telephone wires. Let all the story of this Peoples Temple
be told.
If nobody understands, it matters not. I am ready to die now. Darkness settles over Jonestown on its last day on Earth.".
I wanted to include that quote and this last one to remind readers
that these people killed were at least trying to do something, which is
more than many of us can say.
Eugene Smith, a surviving member, said:
We were people that -- we wanted to make a change. It's a shame it
didn't happen. It might not never happen. But one thing I can say, at
least we tried and we didn't sit back and wait on the laurels for
somebody else to try it. Yes, we tried it. Yes, it was a failure. Yes,
it was very tragic. But at least we tried.
