A Disappointing Continuation

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Boothe gives a tremendous performance, so much that during filming cast would come to him with their problems as if he were Jones. One especially powerful scene occurs after racism leads him to quit the church he's built up. His rage is righteous, all-consuming. It sets up just how many times Boothe can fill in the writing blanks through his charisma and force of will.Other standouts include Cartwright (she does so much with her eyes, especially in the last years. When she ponders saying goodbye to her husband before killing herself - it's a masterpiece) Haynes (the first sexual outlet for Jones, pure and good and broken at the start, corrupt and dangerous and broken at the end, just like Jones); Cash (underwritten but vitally important, the one who fully accepts everything of him, the warm and firm hand of the "family," and a support system for Cartwright. Their small goodbye kiss is saddening and beautiful); Quaid and Foster (they never give in to Jones' vision but are helpless to stop him - taking you from quirky pet shop owner and luminous secretary to helpless husks). The two main standouts are Dourif and Sinclair, who represent the strongest emotional scenes in the film and best show us what Jones represents to those outside his closest inner circle.Dourif exquisitely underplays the role of the young heroin addict who unwittingly sets Jones onto his final path of complete sexual and psychological domination of those he deems worthy of his brand of salvation. He has nothing when Jones finds him, aside from a wife (well-played by Scarwid) who stands by helplessly as he claims ownership of her husband - mind, body and soul. The purity of the chemistry between Dourif and Boothe and a script which underplays the lurid factor of a sexual relationship between men means their scenes have a nuance which many other parts of the movie lack. Dourif to the end only sees the best and believes the best of Jones and his gifts, not because he is a fool or weak, but because he has been reborn and remade in "Father's" image. There's a sad scene near the end of the film where Scarwid attempts to reconnect with him, only for him to passionately, impotently repeat catchphrases about the good he does. The saddest part is he does help people, he does have a purpose for goodness, but it has been perverted into what will lead to mass murder. At the end, Dourif swallows his own poison and quietly stumbles off to die - one final reminder of how alone he truly is.Sinclair has the difficult task of carrying the emotional burden of family material that seems very cookie cutter. What cuts through is, like Dourif, the purity of her belief in Jones. She's a strong, proud woman, so hearing her call Jones "Dad" and seeing her support him over her family has an extra anguish. She represents the love and compassion that Jones once had for black people. When Jones abuses her son, she walks away rather than face reality. Like Dourif, this doesn't make her weak - it simply shows how unable someone in a cult is to trust their own voice. Unlike Dourif, in the end, Sinclair does see the madness, begging Jones to try to get everyone to Russia rather than a mass suicide. In a change from the real life event, Sinclair is talked over not by a man, but by Cash, in a disturbing display of what happens when solidarity is destroyed. Unlike most of the others, Sinclair goes out literally kicking, trying to live life on her own terms in her final moments. It's a harrowing scene, and one which feels all too real.Unfortunately, the script lacks the depth of the performances, starting with a childhood scene which feels more like an offshoot from Our Gang. Dewhurst, as a deeply religious neighbor, has a nice connection with him, but then the movie jumps forward about 20- 25 years. Dewhurst and his mother reappear once for his wedding, then are never mentioned again. This is an odd choice, but you can almost forget as the narrative is still engrossing. Only later do the script problems kick into high gear. Burton gives a good performance, and it's also important that after material which mostly uses black people as props, we get material from their point of view. The problem is his material feels shoved into the narrative, and LeVar is such a familiar face so soon after Roots you don't see a character. The same goes for Brenda Vaccarro as a rich lady who succumbs after Jones promises to heal her dying mother. You are watching Brenda Vaccarro acting, rather than believing any of what you are seeing. Only one scene (where she learns her mother has died and lashes out before being sedated) works. Otherwise she comes across as a Fantasy Island episode gone horribly wrong. The final act with Congressman Ryan going to Jonestown feels perfunctory. Only the small moments featuring Dourif, Sinclair, Cartwright, etc. have weight. Never is this more apparent than the gunning down at the airstrip, which you'd think would be what the entire movie has been leading to. Between the news cameraman desperately trying to get the pictures after everyone around him is being slaughtered, and Foster and Quaid appearing at the airstrip just so they could be killed off as Jones' loyal henchman shouts "Traitors!" - MST3K would be proud. Quietly realizing their son is gone would have been far more powerful, and truer to life. It pales in comparison to the much more genuinely disturbing genocide scenes unfolding simultaneously. If you want to see some superlative acting that will stay with you a long time, then you may want to watch - just don't look too closely at the script.

As the true story of cult leader Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, "Guyana Tragedy" is one of the most powerful movies ever made. The script is structured around Jones. The film begins and ends in Jonestown, with frequent and sometimes lengthy flashbacks to previous periods in his life.As a kid in Indiana he preaches to fellow kids; then as an idealistic and charismatic young preacher in California, he works hard to build a church, and seems sincerely interested in helping the needy and the downtrodden. Yet, despite his efforts, he feels persecuted by enemies, resulting in his action to lead his followers out of the U.S. to "paradise" in the jungles of Guyana, wherein he morphs into a delusional, controlling madman.With no sensationalism of any kind, the final thirty minutes, set in Jonestown in 1978, are as riveting and potent as any I have ever watched.Powers Boothe gives a mesmerizing performance in the title role, helped along by strong support performances from Ned Beatty, Veronica Cartwright, Randy Quaid, and Diana Scarwid. The cast is large and there's not a weak performance to be found.Sets and costumes are detailed and realistic for multiple time periods. As one would expect, the film has lots of gospel songs; otherwise, background music is largely absent, enhancing realism. If I had to make one criticism it would be the color cinematography. Images sometimes seem a bit blurry and less sharp than they could have been.The runtime is lengthy but the entire story is gripping. What makes it so powerful is that it is true. And that ending is explosive.

I read a few reviews of this TV movie which all said that the film dragged on for too long and that it was basically only sensationalistic entertainment. I agree that perhaps, the film goes on a bit too long (2h30 would have been enough...) but I certainly do not think it sensationalize the subject matter. Jim Jones' expansive power trip and slow degradation into mental illness, paranoia and drug abuse are never treated in a voyeuristic manner. The movie takes its time in showing how Jones recruited followers (Brenda Vaccaro's and Brad Dourif's character are stand-outs in that matter) but also in observing an uncanny shift in Jones' perception of reality. It is mind-boggling to see an egalitarian, left-wing and compassionnate preacher become such a destructive and cruel dictator. Perhaps the movie doesn't explore Jones' motivations enough, which can make the whole ordeal a bit superficial at times (may have to do with censorship as well...) But Powers Boothe's mesmerizing performance makes it all come true. I am not familiar with the details of the real Jim Jones' life, but Boothe sure makes the monster he plays believable and real. The movie features many strong scenes, among them the preaching messes of Jones, Jones's meeting with Father Divine (a remarquable James Earl Jones), Congressman Leo Ryan (Ned Beatty)'s visit to the Guyana camp and of course, the suicide scene. It is quite a gloomy spectable to watch and Boothe is quite commanding in those last moments. Madge Sinclair shines in this scene as one of the suddenly sceptic follower, and so do Veronica Cartwright (as Jones' wife) and Brad Dourif, especially when their time comes to drink the murderous potion. The relative calm of the end of this scene, the tasteful direction and the contrasting beauty of the natural surroundings all work in making those images quite impossible to erase from one's mind. A disturbing reflection on human nature and its weaknesses. Worth watching, if only to keep in mind one of the truly horrific events of the 20th century. Not to let it be repeated again. Like, ironically, the inscription in Jim Jones' camp: "Those who do not know the past are bound to repeat it".

Certainly this is the best work Powers Boothe has done and he deservedly got an Emmy for it. As an aside, I can recall the awards night because there was a Screen Actors Guild strike or something and nearly all of the nominees failed to attend the ceremonies. But when Boothe's name was called out as a winner, he defiantly strode up to the podium to get his trophy. People may want to read the book "Raven" which is a biography about Rev. Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple; this TV movie can only scratch the surface of the demonic goings-on in the Temple without demanding more censorship than a TV show could allow, at least back then. Boothe is hypnotic as Jim Jones and you get the sense that he wasn't always whacked out and loony. A particularly good scene is when Jones stands in front of an abandoned synagogue in the black-ghetto part of town. The only white man there, he's soon surrounded by obviously skeptical blacks. "Will you pray with me?" Jones asks, and the bystanders do as Jones gives a heartfelt prayer that God will lift their burdens. The bystanders are impressed and in a short time the Peoples Temple is prospering. Boothe perfectly recreates the candence and timbre of Jones' preaching and phony faith-healing and his lustful disposition towards the women of his congregation. Jones's sexual exploits don't end there and he later has an affair with drug-addicted Brad Dourif, as well (in fact, Jones had sex with plenty of his male followers). The end of the movie where the cult members all commit suicide is very frightening. All the more so because nearly all of the dialogue is exactly what was spoken---Jones had been tape recording his harangues and the tape ended probably not long before he was killed himself. By the way, Jones never took the cynanide-laced kool-aid, he was shot which led many to believe that Jones had no intention of going off into the hereafter but was planning his escape when one of henchmen decided to have Jones join his "flock".