MovieChat Forums > Jim Jones Discussion > We NEED a ten hour Jonestown miniseries.

We NEED a ten hour Jonestown miniseries.

posted 7 months ago by whynotwriteme (7720)
21 replies | jump to latest

I heard DiCaprio was planning a feature film, but it's probably fallen through. Just as well. DiCaprio wouldn't make a good Jim Jones and a 2-3 hour film is way too short to do justice to such an intricate, convoluted story that spanned several decades.

The Powers Booth miniseries from the 80s is decent, but there is way more to the story.

This Jim Jones speech HAS to be in whatever new film they make about Jonestown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3uOFTt1mp0

Hollywood probably won't touch the story, though. Jim Jones' Communist beliefs are too much like those of present-day Democrats for them to want to deal with.

[–] Kendricks (2239) 7 months ago

That would be indeed a story worth telling considering the hundreds of victims and the general craziness of it all.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 7 months ago

I was so P.O.'ed when I found out the second season of "Monster" was going to be about the Menendez Brothers. I was hoping it would be Jim Jones and Jonestown.

You would think after the huge success of Dahmer they would want to make something really epic like the Jonestown story and not just the account of one messed up family of rich jerks.

[–] jacotodd47 (1836) 7 months ago

I don't know about that. The story has been well covered. What more could be known that isn't already known? Yes Jones had Socialist beliefs. He started off as someone ahead of his time (accepted everyone). Had some good ideas. The problem is he couldn't keep his head screwed on straight. He didn't leave San Francisco, he fled.

It's unfortunate to say but true, people that couldn't think for themselves followed him to Jonestown. A project that simply wasn't economically viable. Jones ends up becoming a massive dug addict - completely out of his mind. People stateside become curious as to what is going on in JOnestown. A coalition is put together to investigate - I think everyone knows the story from there. It's a horrible story. Well documented - I don't see the point in rehashing it.

ON the opposite side of the spectrum - a terrific story, however, in a way similar to Jim Jones. Sam Mendes is making 4 movies about all 4 Beatles. Fine. How could this be similar to Jim Jones? It's 4 more stories that have been told and retold for years. Well documented - what more could (or needs to) be known?

Well then again, NETFLIX put together the ten part "Dahmer" miniseries - which was actually pretty good. Then of course there was the movie "May December" which rehashed the Mary Kay Letourneau mess. I didn't care for that one.

Personally I don't see the need for a ten hour Jonestown miniseries.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 7 months ago

The 80s miniseries only scratched the surface of this story. Dozens, if not hundreds of compelling accounts of the different participants. Read Raven and The Road to Jonestown.

[–] jacotodd47 (1836) 7 months ago

Maybe so, maybe the Powers Boothe program only scratched the surface. However, it was hardly the only program produced on Jonestown. Perhaps a dozen more were done.

Of course the others were more towards true crime documentaries.

If we are talking made for TV miniseries, I believe the PB program is the only one.

So I suppose it could be done. Though, as I said previously - one thinks it's better off left alone.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 5 months ago

You can have two minseries each about Waco and some Texas housewife ax murderer, but a huge story with a cast of hundreds, multiple levels of intrigue, and an international setting is worth only one 40 year old dramatization?

The only reason I can think it would be viewed as "better left alone" is because a close examination would reveal that Jones' politics and worldview too closely matched those of the modern Democrat party. When you start reading beyond the headlines, you immediately see that Peoples Temple was like a laboratory for the present-day Woke movement.

[–] Keelai (34858) 7 months ago

No thanks. It would be exploitive to make another one. Let the dead rest in peace. I watched the original miniseries which was excellent.

I recommend reading books to learn more about Jonestown and the cult.

In the meantime, you're missing the present-day cults: Jan. 6 Trump cult; Q-Anon; Scientology; FlatEarthers; etc.

[–] whoanelly (1586) 7 months ago

Although the Powers Booth mini series didn’t really delve into the culpability of Jones’ most ardent female aides who assisted him in orchestrating the mass poisoning.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8020376/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 7 months ago

I just watched that documentary. Chilling! Those women were so similar to the mindset of a lot of people today.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 7 months ago

AntiFa, BLM, Trans Rights gang, Queers for Palestine and all the other pink-haired weirdos are much more in line with Jim Jones' communist politics. All they need is some charismatic leader and they'd be quaffing the Kool Aid already, but there's no charismatic Leftists at all now. That Queer for Palestine at the Israeli embassy should have started a movement instead of immolating himself.

(BTW, I read all the major books, saw the series and docs, and I want to see the FULL story on the screen.)

[–] Adam60z (3766) 5 months ago

The main difference is Jones killed 900 people. If your trump steals the '24 election he'll kill at least 900 million nonmagas.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 5 months ago

The lesson from Jonestown is how the far left progressives can ensnare normal people and make them do terrible things.

[–] Adam60z (3766) 5 months ago

The lesson is that if a lunatic is in charge it doesn't matter what your ideology is: Jim Jones or trump, Hitler or Stalin, it's the same thing.

[–] Adam60z (3766) 5 months ago

Your hero trump is just like Jim Jones. The main difference is Jone killed 900 people. If your hero trump steals the '24 election he'll kill at least 900 million nonmagas.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 5 months ago

Jones was a lame far left liberal who talked his liberal followers into suicide. If Trump kills 900 million non-magas, how does that make him anything like Jim Jones?

[–] Keelai (34858) 5 months ago

Trump killed hundreds of thousands with covid.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 5 months ago

How many seniors did Gov. Cuomo kill by deliberately putting infected people back in the nursing homes?

And how would the overall death toll have been any less if Killary was President instead of Trump?

[–] Keelai (34858) 5 months ago

Cuomo was following Trump's federal government's policy. I checked the federal website during that time and it mandated that nursing home residents must be returned to their nursing home after hospitalization since that was their legal residential home. It said any nursing home refusing to do this could be shutdown by having their license pulled. Former covid patients were supposed to be segregated from healthy residents.

Hillary would not have removed the American doctors who were working in China as part of our national security to warn us about any potential epidemic/pandemic. As soon as our doctors warned us, Hillary would've used the Pandemic Handbook left by two former presidents (Bush; Obama) to prevent a pandemic outbreak by containing it in Wuhan. I've already seen presidents successfully contain epidemics/pandemics including Ebola.

In answer to your question, no Americans would've died because Hillary would've contained it to Wuhan instead of ignoring it like Trump did for months which allowed it to spread globally.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 5 months ago

I imagine you seriously believe that.

[–] Keelai (34858) 5 months ago

I was able to keep my family and myself 100% covid-free by staying well-informed by closely following scientific, medical and government information and guidance including the CDC and Cuomo's daily updates on the web. How many times have YOU had covid?

One of my friends had a child in a NY nursing home, therefore I tracked their guidance.

At the time, I noticed that the NY directive was copy-pasted from the CDC website. Cuomo said the same thing later. I'll add that I noticed Trump's CDC removed one page from the website.
https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-14-nh-revised.pdf

https://skillednursingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/03/DOH_COVID19__NHAdmissionsReadmissions__032520_1585166684475_0.pdf

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

[deleted]