Jonestown: Paradise Lost (2007) (TV)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Tim Wolochatiuk

Writer:

Jason Sherman (writer)

Release Date:

15 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot Keywords:

Docudrama | Poison | Jim Jones | Mass Suicide | Guyana

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ted Biggs	...	Narrator (voice)
Rick Roberts	...	Jim Jones
Quentin Krog	...	Stephan Jones
Brendan Murray	...	Vernon Gosney
Alon Nashman	...	Sherwin Harris
Greg Ellwand	...	Congressman Leo Ryan
Kevin Otto	...	Tim Reiterman
Roxanne McKaizer	...	Monica Bagby
Cindi Sampson	...	Christine Miller
Victoria Bartlett	...	Marceline Jones (as Victoria Bartle)
Nicole Crozier	...	Liane Harris
Dean Slater	...	Don Harris
Adrienne Pierce	...	Sharon Amos (as Adrienne Pearce)
Pope Jerrod	...	'Big' Jim McElvane
Patrick Lyster	...	Charles Garry

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Canada | France | South Africa

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Cineflix

I thought it was really a documentary

I do remember the re-enactment of the events that led up to the Jonestown Massacre but I also remembered thinking that the re-enactments were additional with the documentary interviews with the real characters like survivor and defector, Vernon Gosney, concerned relative Sherwin Harris, and the real Stephan Gandhi Jones, Jim and Marceline's only son who survived by playing on the basketball team of Jonestown. While I appreciated the mixture of both documentary and docudrama, they could have used the Powers Boothe performance in the mini-series because Powers gives an amazing performance on screen that is simply unforgettable which is why it's hard to imagine somebody lesser known incapable of delivering the material. The real names of the characters also helped in the case. I am not going to compare movies but I thought this was the history channel's version of Jonestown.