The Jonestown story is, undeniably, arduous to tell. In spite of a great abundance of primary source materials – including the testimonies of many survivors – nobody has gotten it completely right. Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown – produced by London-based company 72 Films and distributed by National Geographic – does not proclaim to tell the full story, nor does it claim to get it “right.” Rather, the production team hoped that it would serve as a “historical document” for the Jonestown tragedy.
Is it? Likewise, nearly fifty years later, the greater question may be: what more is left to learn?
There have been well over a dozen feature-length documentaries and TV episodes on the subject of Peoples Temple since the deaths in Jonestown. The majority of them typically hone their narratives on the history of Peoples Temple and Jonestown, and on the lead up to November 18, 1978. A few – for instance, A&E’s Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre, which centered on the lives of four women within the Temple’s leadership – have examined specific aspects of Peoples Temple history.
On the other hand, Cult Massacre leaves little room for years of contextual build-up. It is entirely focused on the events of November 18. The documentary takes the popular format of a docuseries, which is a documentary divided into multiple episodes. In this case, Cult Massacre consists of three 45-minute episodes, beginning with Rep. Leo Ryan’s initial investigation and ending with Jonestown’s aftermath. The titles and the official descriptions of the episodes follow:
The Promised Land: Jim Jones gains a major following in California and enacts a radical plan: a new society in the jungle. Soon, abuse rumors prompt an investigation.
How Very Much I’ve Loved You: After U.S. Representative Ryan’s attack, tensions surge in Jonestown. Fifteen cult defectors flee to seek safety, unaware of Jim Jones’s sinister plans.
Paradise Lost: Shocking news of the mass murder-suicide surfaces. Dispatched U.S. Special Forces uncover the unimaginable horror. The search for survivors begins.
I cannot continue this review without a preface: I do not and cannot reasonably expect a production to get every single detail correct. It is impossible. Regardless, it should go without saying that for the topic of Peoples Temple and Jonestown, unlike most other topics, there is an insane abundance of primary resources publicly available. Early documentaries produced on Jonestown often did not have the advantage of robust resources. More inaccuracies were to be expected. With the accessibility of the Internet and this website itself, newer documentaries and productions have increased access to such resources. In short, expectations are higher than ever before.
What it got right:
Most of us – especially regular visitors to this site – know the basic story of Jonestown. We know of Jim Jones’ fiery and attractive rhetoric, the mass exodus into Guyana, the punishments, the Concerned Relatives, the Port Kaituma airstrip shootings, and, of course, the Death Tape and Christine Miller (who is, surprisingly, not mentioned by name). And, by all means, Cult Massacre succeeds at it. Instead of delving into the intricate and prolonged history of Peoples Temple, which would entail a docuseries of its own, Cult Massacre delivers a more detailed and nuanced perspective on Leo Ryan’s congressional visit. Nearly 10 minutes into the first episode, the narrative has already reached the first mention of the Concerned Relatives and their grievances. Moreover, Cult Massacre expands on an often-neglected aspect of Jonestown history: the aftermath. Most previous documentaries have allotted mere minutes, if anything, to the aftermath, the involvement of the U.S. military forces – which, from a military perspective, has been considered one of the most bizarre operations in contemporary history – and the tragedy’s impact on survivors. In contrast, Cult Massacre devoted an entire episode to it.
Cult Massacre features one of the most eclectic casts of survivors and witnesses to ever be heard so far in a Jonestown documentary. We see many regulars – Stephan Jones, Tim Carter, Jackie Speier, Leslie Wagner-Wilson, Grace Stoen, Tim Reiterman, and countless more familiar faces. Most intriguing, though, we also hear from some lesser-heard voices: those of the U.S. military and government. We hear from Douglas Ellice, who was working at the U.S. consular office in Guyana in 1978, and David Netterville, then a member of the Air Force Special Forces who was one of the first Americans to enter Jonestown after the mass deaths. A Rolling Stones article claimed that the documentary is the first time David Netterville has been publicly interviewed, although he had previously been interviewed as a part of the Military Response to Jonestown project a few years prior.
The greatest accomplishment of Cult Massacre is not necessarily its general accuracy or inclusion of new perspectives. It’s the footage. As a posthumous thank you to Bob Brown at NBC, there exists today hours of footage from Leo Ryan’s trip and Jonestown’s final hours. We see a lot of familiar footage in Cult Massacre, from the Jonestown Express’ rendition of “That’s the Way of the World” to the Simon family’s argument over leaving Jonestown. Much of the footage from Brown’s NBC tapes has really only ever been shown to the public in low-quality portions in documentaries or in heavily watermarked archival cuts obtained by researchers. In the production of Cult Massacre, all of the footage used was remastered and enhanced, thus resulting in perhaps one of the highest quality resolutions of Jonestown footage ever to be seen.
Apart from the remastering of old footage, we see a lot of new footage, too. As NBC’s Bob Brown recorded nearly the entirety of Leo Ryan and his delegation’s trip to Guyana, there are new – at least to a general audience – cuts shown, such as scenes of the flight to Guyana and the delegation at Georgetown’s Pegasus Hotel. Besides the new footage from Brown’s tape, there are clips of many more never-seen-before media interviews with survivors in Georgetown. Additionally, in the final episode, there is most notably an extended clip of members of the U.S. military embarking on one of their first walkthroughs of Jonestown alongside survivors John Cobb and Tim Tupper Jones, which has never been featured in other documentaries.
Yet the most astonishing achievement of Cult Massacre – the footage – is remarkably one of the most irksome.
… And what could be improved:
In its promotion, 72 Films acknowledged that they had accessed tons of “unique footage” and included never-seen-before footage in the documentary. Cult Massacre does, in fact, feature many new snippets and clips of footage, especially in the final episode. These clips, too, are featured in a high-quality resolution. Technically, though, nearly all of the “new” footage in the docuseries is now familiar to those with a keen eye. Many of the unseen clips featured can be found listed on – and in some cases, previewed – through footage licensing sites such as Veritone and ABCVideoSource. Still, Cult Massacre only spans across three episodes, so the new footage usually consists of short snippets and is rarely, although understandably, shown in its entirety. From a researcher’s perspective, it does, abashedly, feel frustrating at times seeing this new footage, yet never actually being able to access all of it. The complete contents of the Bob Brown NBC tape, for example, were inaccessible to the NBC producer who had first reviewed it in 1978. On the contrary, large production studios seem to have little difficulty in accessing footage that even those who had a hand in producing cannot access themselves.
Furthermore, a painful truth cannot be avoided: as the last contingent of survivors and witnesses passes away, this documentary might have been one of the last chances for their stories to be publicly heard. Survivors graciously lent their testimonies to these documentaries, even if it is still difficult for many to retell their painful stories. Time does not heal all wounds. With this in consideration, it can reasonably be expected that documentarians should be held to a higher degree of accountability for accurately depicting survivors’ accounts. The issue with Cult Massacre is not necessarily the stories it includes, but what was omitted. Too many survivors and witnesses were interviewed for a documentary that was not long enough to adequately accommodate all of their accounts. I was told that the documentary was originally planned to include a few more episodes, but it was later shortened down to three for undisclosed reasons.
Cult Massacre would have benefited from an additional episode or two. Take Grace Stoen, for example, whose story of rescuing her son, John Victor Stoen, from Jonestown was heavily featured in the first episode, but it was never mentioned again – much less resolved – by the final episode. For a casual viewer who might not know much about Jonestown, the documentary inevitably raises more questions than answers.
For the most part, the clips of the interviews from eyewitnesses contain few new revelatory details of Jonestown. Viewers who have seen previous documentaries or have read books aren’t missing out on much, at least information-wise. SinceCult Massacre placed a heavy emphasis on footage, it came at a trade-off: simple details and context. In its retelling of the events of November 18, many basic facts and details – such as the death of Sharon Amos and her three children, and Larry Layton’s involvement in the Port Kaituma shootings – are left out. Arguably, while these omissions do help to simplify the Jonestown story for a mainstream audience, it can sometimes inflict unnecessary confusion. For instance, in the second episode, Tim Carter proclaims that “[he] is the last person left alive who was in Jonestown while people were beginning to be murdered.” This quote reportedly resulted in confusion from some viewers as Tim’s brother Mike, is still alive, and was technically in Jonestown when the deaths first started – but never actually witnessed them – and Stanley Clayton, whose whereabouts in the last five years or so are unknown today. This resulting confusion is likely not the fault of Tim Carter himself, since it is unclear whether or not his statement was quoted in the full context of his original interview. Yet by leaving out what may appear to be inessential context, how can Cult Massacre be expected to contribute to the Jonestown canon?
Is it worth a watch?
I don’t believe there has been any Jonestown documentary that has surpassed Stanley Nelson’s 2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, despite its own flaws. For the seasoned viewer, there likely isn’t too much new information to learn in Cult Massacre. Regardless, the remastered Jonestown footage along with new clips does make the docuseries worthwhile. On an episode-by-episode basis, the final episode, if anything, has the most new content to offer. However, it is imperative to take into account that the vast majority of documentaries, including Cult Massacre, are intended for general audiences. They are not objective retellings. Moreover, documentaries are not necessarily subjected to as high a level of accountability – citations, quality of sources, methodologies, etc. – that other mediums of historical research are held to. This does not indicate that Cult Massacre lacks any merit in the Jonestown “historical record.” But like every other source, the information, interviews, and footage within it must be scrutinized, even more so in Cult Massacre.
Rather than the all-encompassing approach Cult Massacre attempts in its portrayal of Jonestown’s eyewitness, it would have been intriguing to see a documentary or series on one specific aspect of Jonestown – or perhaps even on a family impacted by Peoples Temple. Nonetheless, as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Jonestown, a reality must be realized: the next few years may be some survivors’ and eyewitnesses’ last chances to articulate their stories. I don’t intend to incite any unnecessary urgency, nor do I expect Jonestown research to ever come to an abrupt end. Nevertheless, documentaries like Cult Massacre may be some of the last opportunities for us, the viewers, to hear the living records of those involved.
(Aliah Mohmand is a student with an interest in Peoples Temple. Her research has resulted in multiple projects regarding the aftermath of the Jonestown tragedy. Aliah attends Kalamazoo College, pursuing studies in History and Finance. Her other articles in this edition of the jonestown report are Reconstructing the Jonestown Narrative: The Story of the 1978 Guyana Inquest, and The Reporting of Mohamed Hamaludin. Her full collection of articles for this site may be found here. She may be reached at aliahmohmand@gmail.com.)