What Happened in Jonestown if You Refused to Drink the Kool-Aid?
The Jonestown massacre is so well known that the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” has become part of the American vernacular—a fact that still rankles Stephan Jones, son of cult leader Jim Jones, who believes that it dehumanizes the victims by casting them as merely brainwashed lunatics who took their own lives. “That night was murder,” he contends in Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown. Director Marian Mohamed’s three-part docuseries, however, splits the difference by suggesting that both things were true, all while providing a harrowing blow-by-blow account of the fateful final days at the compound, where 918 people died thanks to their messiah’s homicidal wishes.
Premiering on Hulu on June 17 and on National Geographic (its producer) on August 14, Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown is an up-close-and-personal portrait of Jonestown’s downfall. Its definitive nature is the byproduct of an amazing amount of archival footage shot by news reporters on and around November 18, 1978, when things took a monstrous turn at the isolated Guyana settlement, as well as the participation of many of the people who were on the ground when all hell broke loose. Most bracing of all, perhaps, is a new interview with Stephan, who was in the country’s capital city of Georgetown when Jonestown devolved into murder and mayhem, and who has plenty to say about his dad and the mania that drove him to embark on his horrific course of action.
In a brief contextual intro about the origins of Jones’ Peoples Temple church, Stephan remarks that, “Folks have really not done a good job of showing what was attractive about my father. I’m not here to protect his memory at all. But so what you see in the media about my father, one who didn’t experience the Temple, can’t help but think, why would anyone follow that guy? There must have been something wrong with these people from the start.” Instead, he argues that Jones was a charismatic preacher whose vision of an inclusive multicultural society was inspiring to many, especially during a turbulent ’70s still grappling with racial divisions, economic hardship, and the conclusion of the Vietnam War. In separate conversations, some of Jones’ followers echo those sentiments, highlighting the spirit of tolerance and compassion that compelled them to eagerly join—and remain committed to—the Peoples Temple.