"Jonestown" Filmmakers Ignore S.F. Media Complicity in Cult's Rise. Use Tragedy for Bush Bashing & Promoting Utopian Society

This past Saturday marks the 28th anniversary of the largest slaughter of American citizens pre-9/11 in Jonestown, Guyana. On that day, 912 Peoples Temple members (mostly from the Bay Area) were forced to (some voluntarily) drink cyanide laced Flavor-Aid on orders from their leader, the Rev. Jim Jones.

A new documentary film, Jonestown, The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, was recently screened at the Rafael Theatre in San Rafael, and other Bay Area cities. It debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival this past Spring and is slated for a run on PBS' American Experience in 2007.

While the archival footage used in the movie is worth viewing due to its historical interest, the film is, for the most part, an exercise in despair. There's no hero, only what we know will happen, the eventual destruction of peoples lives and the sense of loss among the survivors interviewed.

Several important elements of the Temple story are either glossed over or missing from the film, notably how San Francisco media was hoodwinked by the sociopathic prophet Jones. Additionally, director Stanley Nelson and writer Marcia Smith use the tragedy of the Temple to promote a Socialist style Utopian society, as well as take thinly veiled swipes at our current President.

"Does it (a Utopian society) work, I believe it does," Nelson told an audience at a Q&A session at the Rafael Theatre. Smith, who also serves on a selection board at the George Soros funded Open Society Institute, said the Temple story is a reminder to question people in authority, as well as our current leaders.

At that point, an obvious Marin County left-winger excitedly shouted "George Bush!"

Nelson acknowledged this point in an AP story earlier this year, stating "These things happen over and over again throughout history of the world. It's important that we question our leaders about who they are and where they are leading us."

"Moonbeam" Jerry Brown & Jim Jones

While the film briefly shows the influence that Peoples Temple had with the liberal San Francisco political establishment in the 1970's, (Jones held court with Walter Mondale & Roslynn Carter during the 1976 Presidential Campaign) it glosses over much damning evidence. Though footage and photos showed their association with Jones, The Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown refused to be interviewed for the film. Could this be due to the fact that Williams gave Jones Glide's Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian of the Year award in 1977? At a testimonial for Jones, Willie Brown introduced the cult leader as "a combination of Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein and Chairman Mao."

The Rev. Cecil Williams & Jim Jones, circa 1977

After the 1978 massacre, Brown was quoted as saying he had "no regrets" for associating with Jones. He also criticized those who disassociated themselves, saying "They all like to say, 'Forgive me, I was wrong', but that's bulls--t. It doesn't mean a thing now, it just isn't relevant."

While late Mayor George Moscone's 1975 narrow victory to the city's highest office was credited to Temple members, no mention is made in the film about possible voter fraud that may have occured, swinging the election in Moscone's favor.

Mayor George Moscone shakes hands with Jim Jones

Completely ignored by the filmmakers is the negligence of San Francisco media and how they either refused to cover or shut down any attempt to expose Peoples Temple before the 1977 New West magazine expose.

In the audience at Rafael Theatre was Kathleen Kinsolving, whose father, Les, wrote what was to be a series of eight articles exposing Jones in 1972 for the San Francisco Examiner. The series was cancelled by the Examiner after only four stories ran due to a protest by Temple members outside the papers. She, like her father and brother earlier this year, confronted Nelson about ignoring the expose in the film. This topic was obviously one that Nelson wanted to answer quickly and then "move on" to another topic.

Kathleen and her brother, Tom, wrote an online article that details their father's desperate attempt to warn the nation about Peoples Temple. They write about how their Berkeley home was burglarized by Temple members and their father was listed as number two on a Temple hit list.

"Let all the story of this People's Temple be told. Let all the books be opened," read a note found at Jonestown. This film and a similar stage production last year falls short of that. In order to tell the whole story, some uncomfortable truths about Bay Area media and politicians must also be told in how they aided and abetted a madman's rise to a horrible end in a South American jungle.