Film: Romero (1989)
Director: John Duigan
Run time: 105 minutes
Producer: Ellwood Kieser

On 24 March 1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador was shot while celebrating the Eucharist in a hospital chapel. Pope Francis canonized the martyred Catholic prelate in 2018. This movie depicts the last three critical years of Romero’s life, beginning with his appointment as Archbishop of San Salvador.

Coming from a working class family, Romero joined the seminary. After his ordination he worked among the poor in El Salvador when E Salvador was in the throes of bloody confrontations between the military junta and Marxist rebels. Initially perceived as a conservative, he was acceptable to the regime. However his protests against the State’s brutal violence and blatant violations of human rights and advocacy of peaceful solutions to socio-political issues made him the enemy of the regime.

The film shows the heinous and barbaric violence that was routine in Sal Salvador. When Romero assumes office, El Salvador is caught in a web of violence and terror unleashed by the clashes between the ruling junta and communist guerillas.

The assassination of Romero’s close friend, Fr. Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit social activist, is also recalled. Romero’s pleas to the government to bring to justice Rutilio’s killers were ignored. He also has to face some members of the clergy as well as the Communist guerillas who seek armed resistance. Romero championed free and fair elections, land reforms and just wages for the working class.

But he saw elections being subverted by use of force and intimidation. Those who were even suspected of opposition were abducted and tortured. Even girls, children and women were not spared, and thousands were made to ‘disappear’. When one of his churches was desecrated and turned into a military barrack, he celebrated Mass, despite the destruction of the altar and the tabernacle. He did it as a sign of protest.

The fraudulence and insincerity of the regime makes it clear that he cannot expect anything except violence and deception. One of his priests is murdered. Sent to prison, Romero directly experiences the heartless cruelty and violence that his people are subject to. In prison his loud and passionate pleas for mercy for a tortured fellow prisoner are ignored. He writes to the U.S. President asking him to stop supplying arms to the government of El Salvador, because they are used against the citizens. His enemies brand him a Communist, though he makes it very clear that he is a man of faith and not a Marxist.

The day before his assassination Romero openly appeals to the military, reminding the soldiers that the people they kill under orders are their own brothers and admonishes them to remember the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”. No soldier is obliged to obey a law contrary to God’s commandment. The final scenes show how he meets his martyrdom. He is shot on the altar in the middle of the Mass.