What happened in Jonestown if you refused to drink the Kool-Aid?

The Jonestown Massacre is so well known that the phrase drinking the Kool-Aid has become part of everyday American parlance which still irritates Stephan Jones, son of cult leader Jim Jones, who believes it dehumanizes the victims by portraying them as Just brainwashed lunatics. who committed suicide. That night was murder, he says in Cult Massacre: A Day in Jonestown. Director Marian Mohamed's three-part documentary series, however, splits the difference by suggesting that both things were true, while providing a harrowing, blow-by-blow account of the fateful final days at the compound, where 918 people died thanks to the homicide of their messiah. wishes.

Premieres on Hulu on June 17 and on National Geographic (its producer) on August 14. Cult Massacre: A Day in Jonestown is an up-close and personal portrait of the fall of Jonestown. Its definitive nature is the result of an incredible amount of archival footage shot by journalists around November 18, 1978, when things took a monstrous turn in the isolated colony of Guyana, as well as the participation of many people who were there. the ground when all hell broke loose. Most bracing of all, perhaps, is a new interview with Stephan, who was in Georgetown, the nation's capital, when Jonestown descended into murder and mayhem, and who has much to say about his father and the mania that pushed him to embark on his journey. horrible course of action.

In a brief background introduction to the origins of Jones Peoples Temple Church, Stephan notes, “People really haven't done a good job of showing what was attractive about my father. I am not at all here to protect his memory. But then what you see in the media about my father, someone who didn't experience the Temple, can't help but think: why would anyone follow this 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 inspired many people, particularly during the turbulent 1970s, still grappling with racial divisions, economic hardship and conclusion of the Vietnam War. In separate conversations, some of Jones' followers echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the spirit of tolerance and compassion that led them to enthusiastically join and remain engaged in Peoples Temple.

Jones soon became convinced that the only way to realize his dream was to create it himself. So he bought land in the remote jungles of Guyana, settled his followers there and had them build a self-sufficient community. Film footage from this period shows members working happily and singing Jones' praises. Nonetheless, word eventually began to get out of Jonestown that things were not as idyllic as they seemed, and thanks to the efforts of former members like Grace Stoen, California Congressman Leo Ryan took it upon himself to leading an investigation involving a trip to Jonestown. After some contentious back and forth, they finally reached the enclosure, where they were treated, on the night of November 17, 1978, to a joyful spectacle of song and dance in the pavilion. In a chilling clip, Ryan tells the crowd that he heard they thought Jonestown was the best thing that ever happened to them, and in response, the audience roared with deafening approval.

But this facade did not last. During the festivities, NBC News correspondent Don Harris received a note from a member saying they were being held against their will. The next day, Harris confronted Jones on camera. People play games, folks. They lie. They lie. What can I do against liars? I'm begging you, please leave us, Jones pleads in the interview, saying members are free to leave at any time. It was a lie, as would soon be proven. While evacuating some members to the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip, Ryan was attacked by a knife-wielding assassin. This attempt failed, but upon arriving at the plane and waiting for a second to arrive, to accommodate all their passengers, armed men showed up and, on Jones' orders, opened fire. Five were killed, including Ryan; the others pretended to be dead or fled into the jungle.

It's all told by the men and women who lived it, including Ryan's assistant Jackie Speier, journalists Charles Krause (Washington Post) and Tim Reiterman (San Francisco Examiner), NBC sound recordist Steve Sung and former Peoples Temple members Thom Bogue and Tim Carter, who lost their wife and daughter on November 18 and survived simply because he was ordered to the last minute to hand over the Jonestown funds to the Soviet Union. embassy (as Jones ends up addressing the United States). Their memories of the hours and minutes spent in Jonestown, after being shot down on the Port Kaituma airstrip and fleeing for their lives, are intensely wrenching and give the material a gripping, you-are-there intimacy.

Also contributing to this effect are Jones' November 18 audio recordings in which he encouraged his followers, some of whom were, at that time, reluctant to commit suicide and their children. certain dignity, to give their lives with dignity. do not lie down with tears and agony.

By the time the U.S. Army arrived at Jonestown, virtually everyone who remained was dead, and as Cult Massacre: A Day in Jonestown famous, not everyone went there of their own free will. Although myriad followers willingly drank Kool-Aid poisoned by Jones, many others were found with syringes stuck in the back of their necks, indicating that anyone who sought to disobey the orders of the cult leaders had been executed by his soldiers. As for Jones himself, he shot himself in the head, leaving behind a legacy of unforgettable loss and madness.

For his once-devoted acolytes, the process of overcoming these events (and their own roles and trust in Jonestown) remains difficult. In its final moments, Mohamed's documentary series strives to end on a celebratory note about resilience. Yet, as Stephan admits, overcoming this unthinkable calamity, one of the largest mass murders in American history, is a work in progress.