ive watched it before and its on tv now here in the uk THOUGH ill be going to bed in a moment as its nearly 1am lol
But was the temple totally surrounded by the people? so far it seems they are only at 1 side
so why could they not run down 1 of the other sides fast?
I know it had vines all over but surely it would have been possible
I don't believe it would have been possible. Only stairs down were on that side (and they were open from the vines), the other sides were fully grown as you said, and the vines could grab a person.
Regarding of going fast, it would not have been a good option considering there weren't stairs. They were basically just blocks, have you ever tried going down fast/jumping on blocks that are over 50cm tall? Going downhill on those is a serious danger of falling down, and not talking about vines that grab you.