Review of The Sacrament (2014) by Colin B — 30 Sep 2015

I really enjoyed this movie, but as a fan of West's work I went in with an open mind.

A lot of people are giving this movie grief for "borrowing" elements from the Jonestown massacre.... This movie is clearly a retelling of that very story... With the exception of the back story to the film makers and particular characters in this, this is almost exactly the story of Jonestown. It's supposed to be.. clearly. Up to the fact t hat journalists coming to cover the story was what caused the initial unrest, and the mother approaching the journalists and begging them to take her child: that's all fact.

I feel like if they had just made that more clear, a lot of people would have a softer opinion about this movie. It's cliche because it IS the story that started the cliche... It wasn't trying to be something else. So I went in to this movie expecting a dramatization of Jonestown, and that's exactly what I got. If you forgive the fact that the major plot elements are all based entirely in actual events, then the movie itself is really quite entertaining. I even see some reviewers saying it was "predictable". Well of course it fucking is! Who doesn't know the story of Jonestown? I feel like this is the closest we're going to get to getting a sense of what it was like to be in that town, and I thought the acting, cinematography and pacing was all well done and tense.