Random Documentary Reviews
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Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006, USA)
The word unbelievable is weak and ineffective to describe the sociological horror of this unique event. 910 people die in unison at the mercy of reverend’s Jones’ whim. Thousands of poor, late ’70s, mostly african american believers join Jones’ socialist dream and follow him to Guiana in what will turn out to be a labor camp rather than a collective farm. The visit of an american congressman brakes the feeble equilibrium as idol worship turns to horror. A scaled down model of a dictatorship, fueled not by the dictator but rather by his worshipers, uncapable of autonomous thought and unwilling to exhibit any form of criticism. Yes, a scaled down model of many a country around the world, revealing the secret of despotism and personal dominion: a population willing to drink kool aid laced with cyanide in the name of the king. Stanley Nelson director
(9/10)