History Film / Jonestown

** Shortly before the "revolutionary suicide" begins, we see grainy footage of the cultists firing at the trunk the reporters were hiding in, before it fades to static as the cameraman is shot.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Jonestown was depicted as a paradise in Temple films and enticed many followers to leave for Guyana permanently. Once they arrived, they were never allowed to leave, were forced to live and work in spartan conditions while Jones lived in comparable luxury, and were routinely tormented by Jones and his drug-addled madness. [[note]]Ironically, that wasn't too far off from the truth... until Jones and the bulk of the church started moving there. A community that had been able to survive pretty well on subsistence farming exploded in population, and between that and Jones' insanity, things went downhill fast.[[/note]]

* CorruptChurch: Jones can be heard saying blasphemous things about God, Heaven, and the Bible. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the Temple was more of a Marxist political organization than an actual church. Jones started as a Communist activist who believed religion should be used as it appealed to people more than Marxist ideology, but at some point it seems he started to [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believe the lies]] he'd told.

* DoomedExpedition: Leo Ryan's "fact-finding mission" to Jonestown. Jones's death squad descended on the plane the moment it touched down. Back at the compound, Jones claimed no involvement in the attack, but "prophesied" the Congressman's death from a stray shot by his guards (he was actually shot 40 times while Jones watched). As the bodies continued to drop, Jones' self-discipline started to slip and he admitted he did order Ryan's murder.

* InterfaithSmoothie: Despite being a "Pastor", J.J. skewed closer to pagan, preaching a fuzzy, "star-of-the-East" type mysticism about heaven on earth and how Christianity had lied to its followers. At various points he admitted to being an atheist and agnostic. The general thrust was the only road to paradise is through Jim Jones.

* PhotoOpWithTheDog: Horrible as Jones was, he was a hero to the black community for championing civil rights and often provided them with legal services. Once they were on the hook, Jones convinced them to drain their savings and fork it over to his "church", where it was funneled into one of several Swiss accounts.

* SinisterMinister: Jones changed his gimmick depending on the audience. Pentecostals tended to respond to the hard sell, while the beatniks were enticed by his Marxist ideology. Jones dropped the act once the converts arrived in Guyana, revealing that he believed in neither God nor heaven.

* ConspiracyTheories: Jones believed the Temple was the victim of assassination conspiracies by a fascist U.S. government, and ranted about them on Jonestown's speaker system at all hours of the day in order to keep its inhabitants fearful of the outside world.
** Jones is also seen telling followers how "obvious" it was that JFK, MLK, and Malcolm X were victims of deadly conspiracies.

* SinisterShades: His trademark look.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: How Jones characterized the many "White Night" meetings, where he'd gather his followers, convince them they were under attack, and have them pledge one-by-one that they were willing to die for the cause. Which is why it took a while for everyone to realize that the final meeting was the real thing.

* AnyoneCanDie: Jones' victims included a congressman, a news team from {{NBC}}, and over 900 of his own followers.

'''''Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple''''' is a 2006 documentary by Stanley Nelson, which aired in 2007 on Creator/{{PBS}}'s ''American Experience''. It charts the story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People Temple, from their noble beginning in TheFifties, to their controversial history in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco in TheSeventies, to the notorious mass suicide at their Guyana compound in November 1978. The film lacks any narration, instead allowing the story to be told by former Temple members themselves.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: One of the greatest RealLife examples out there. Jones started as a weird, but friendly child that grew into a young man who believed in racial equality and socialism as a way to improve other people's lives. He then decided that TheEndJustifiesTheMeans, got addicted to drugs and power, and ItGotWorse. Very worse.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: One of the greatest RealLife examples out there. Jones started as a weird, but friendly child that grew into a young man who believed in racial equality and socialism as a way to improve other people's lives.

* DeathSeeker: Not only for Jones himself, but for everyone and everything around him. The film suggests that Jones had always sought death; as a kid, he held funerals for (and allegedly killed) stray animals. Several incidents are described which suggest that Jones had planned a mass suicide years before the move to Guyana.

* AnyoneCanDie: Jones' victims included a congressman, a news team from {{NBC}}, and over 900 of his own followers in a warped parody of the Last Supper.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: One of the great tragedies of the Peoples Temple is how utterly beautiful its ideals were. Its members believed in equality for all people and all races, in caring for one another, and they worked ''hard'' to make the better world they dreamed of a reality. If they hadn't been corrupted by a madman, who knows what they might have accomplished?

* PhotoOpWithTheDog: Horrible as Jones was, he was hero to the black community and often provided them with legal services. Once they were on the hook, Jones convinced them to drain their savings and fork it over to his "church", where it was funneled into one of several Swiss accounts.
* PlotArmor: Pointedly averted. Congressman Leo Ryan, perhaps out of naivete, seemed to think he had this when he told Vernon Gosney, a Temple defector, that he had "the congressional shield of protection around you." Gosney looked at Ryan as if he were "totally insane." Both Gosney and Ryan were shot at the airfield, the latter fatally.

* SinisterMinister:Jones changed his gimmick depending on the audience. Pentecostals tended to respond to the hard sell, while the beatniks were enticed by his Marxist ideology. Jones dropped the act once the converts arrived in Guyana, revealing that he believed in neither God nor heaven.

* AStormIsComing: Played eerily straight in RealLife. On the day of the massacre, hours before the vat is brought out, a severe thunderstorm pours torrential rain on the settlement. Survivor Tim Carter remarks that it was "as if evil itself had blown into Jonestown."

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Before Guyana, Jones had a popular following amongst liberals and radical leftists in the United States, owing to the political and social activities of the Peoples Temple. In particular, Jones managed to forge links with UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco politicians George Moscone, Harvey Milk, and Willie Brown, as well as Vice President Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalyn Carter.

* CorruptChurch: Jones can be heard saying blasphemous things about God, Heaven, and the Bible. Justified in that the Temple was more of a Marxist political organization than an actual church.

* DoomedExpedition: Leo Ryan's "fact-finding mission" to Jonestown. Jim's death squad descended on the plane the moment it touched down. Back at the compound, Jones claimed no involvement in the attack, but "prophesied" the Congressman's death from a stray shot by his guards (he was actually shot 40 times while Jones watched). As the bodies continued to drop, Jones' self-discipline started to slip and he admitted he did order Ryan's murder.

* DrinkingTheKoolAid: The massacre was the TropeCodifier, though not necessarily the TropeMaker. (What they actually drank was a Kool-Aid CaptainErsatz called "Flavor Aid".)
* DrivenToSuicide: For almost the entire Jonestown settlement, on an enormous scale. Although some of the survivors would call it a [[PopCultureOsmosis mass murder instead of]] [[BeamMeUpScotty a mass suicide]].

* InfantImmortality: Averted. Tim Carter, one of the few Temple members to leave Jonestown alive on the day of the massacre, recalls watching his son die from cyanide poisoning.

* MadeASlave: Jonestown inhabitants were made at work at almost all hours of the day, had the live in cramped rooms and huts, and were not permitted to leave the settlement except in (extremely) rare circumstances.

* NietzscheWannabe: Despite being a "Pastor", J.J. skewed closer to Pagan, preaching a fuzzy, "star-of-the-East" type mysticism about Heaven on Earth and how Christianity had lied to its followers. At various points he admitted to being an atheist and agnostic. The general thrust was the only road to paradise is through Jim Jones.

'''''Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple''''' is a 2006 documentary by Stanley Nelson, which aired in 2007 on Creator/{{PBS}}'s ''American Experience''. It charts the story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People Temple, from their noble beginning in TheFifties, to their controversial history in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco in TheSeventies, to the notorious mass killing at their Guyana compound in November 1978. The film lacks any narration, instead allowing the story to be told by former Temple members themselves.

* CameraAbuse: NBC cameraman Rob Brown was amongst those killed in the airstrip shooting. Footage from his camera, which had fallen to the ground, shows the Temple shooters climbing out of the dump truck and shooting at Ryan's delegation.

** When the cultists begin shooting at the congressman and the reporters, we see grainy footage from of the cultists firing at the trunk the Americans were hiding in before it switches to static as the cameraman is shot.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: One of the great tragedies of the Peoples Temple is how utterly beautiful its ideals were. Its members believed in equality for all people and all races, in caring for one another, and they worked ''hard'' to make the better world they dreamed of a reality. If they hadn't been corrupted by a madman, who knows what they might have accomplished?

** Another alumnus of Scientology: Charles Manson.

* BeamMeUpScotty / PopCultureOsmosis: Some Temple members protest the description of the incident as a mass suicide, with one of them emphatically saying, "Jones was killing us."

* NightmareFuel: The death tape.

* TearJerker: Watching Temple survivors describe seeing their loved ones die. Also watching captions listing just ''how many'' family members they lost.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Jonestown was depicted as a paradise in Temple films and enticed many followers to leave for Guyana permanently. Once they arrived, they were never allowed to leave, were forced to live and work in spartan conditions while Jones lived in comparable luxury, and were routinely tormented by Jones and his drug-addled madness. [note]Ironically, that wasn't too far off from the truth... until Jones and the bulk of the church started moving there. A community that had been able to survive pretty well on subsistence farming exploded in population, and between that and Jones' insanity, things went downhill fast.[/note]

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Jonestown was depicted as a paradise in Temple films and enticed many followers to leave for Guyana permanently. Once they arrived, they were never allowed to leave, were forced to live and work in spartan conditions while Jones lived in comparable luxury, and were routinely tormented by Jones and his drug-addled madness.

* {{Cult}}: One of the most notorious and enduring examples in history. We're lucky he killed hundreds and not thousands.

* AffablyEvil: Jones' early Temple films show him enthusiastically describing the positive atmosphere and social safety nets the Temple affords to its members. He was also heavily involved in the CivilRightsMovement, which won him significant support from the black community and liberal activists. Even skeptics who spoke with Jones were struck by his good looks and magnetism, which proved hard to exist.

* TheCaligula: As Jones' mental health deteriorated, so did Jonestown in standard of living and the treatment of human beings. He lived like a Maharaja for several months, surrounded with worshipers and vice, and basically bode his time until his tax-evading drug den inevitably drew the attention of news outlets. Then he struck.