Originally broadcast in 1980 as a two-part television movie, this gripping recreation of the horrible tragedy of the Jonestown mass suicide in November 1978 connects largely owing to the mesmeric, Emmy-winning lead performance of Powers Boothe.

Directed by William Graham, Guyana Tragedy: The Jim Jones Story features a cast stuffed with heavyweight names and familiar faces — James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty, Brad Dourif, Diane Ladd, Meg Foster, Randy Quaid, Levar Burton, Colleen Dewhurst, Rosalind Cash, Veronica Cartwright and Irene Cara are among the supporting players with roles large and small — but it’s undisputably Boothe who anchors the tale of San Francisco preacher Jones, who relocated his followers to a religious colony carved from scratch into a remote South American jungle. Tracing Jones’ early social activist period to his rise as an ego-driven, modern day messiah, Guyana Tragedy wrings a lot of production value from its relatively low budget. And the climactic suicide sequence is convincingly recreated in quasi-documentary style, a credit to Graham. But the movie’s script — and in particular the dialogue — never gives the broader elements of the story (the social turmoil of the time, particularly among working-class-poor African-Americans) a full, insightful reckoning, so we’re left at a loss for the ingredients that informed a lot of Jones’ disciples, and made the Kool Aid-laced suicide of 913 individuals, including many women and children, possible. Boothe makes up for a lot of that with his eyes — he’s an ace at conveying compassion and dead-pool menace within the span of a single conversation — but the 189-minute running time requires a bit more, truth be told.

Housed on a region-free disc in a regular Amaray case, Guyana Tragedy: The Jim Jones Story comes presented in its original 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio, with a billed Dolby digital soundtrack that suffers from a few pops and some seeming warping or range compression. Trailers for other VCI Entertainment releases are included, along with brief cast biographies. Yes, this is unfortunately a case of one of those releases — like in the early days of DVD — that bills “scene selection” as a supplemental extra, which is really a shame. Boothe won a flipping Emmy for this, and Robert Rodriguez has gone on record as saying that was one of the reasons he cast him in Sin City, so why weren’t Boothe’s representatives on the ball on this one? Even if they had to give up some time gratis, surely the profile bump of an honestly reflective DVD release would have earned the actor a bump in profile, and possibly some new industry fans. Alas, the lack of bonus features is Guyana Tragedy‘s real tragedy. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. C (Movie) D- (Disc)