When Nicaragua succumbed to civil war during the late 1970s, the governments of surrounding Central American nations were afraid that the same turmoil and revolution would overcome them as well. Among those nations was El Salvador, apparently a military dictatorship that brutally repressed its left-wing opposition.
El Salvador is depicted as without a middle class. There is a small community who are rich. They are generally of European ancestry. But most people are poor, usually of Indian descent, and living in squalid shacks. The government is by the rich, for the rich.
What the disparate classes have in common is the Roman Catholic Church. Generally a conservative institution, the church is tacitly expected to stay out of national politics. But in practice, it is broken into factions as well. There are priests whose open sympathy for the disenfranchised poor has made them leftist radicals, and therefore legitimate targets, in the eyes of the intolerant generals that control El Salvador.
Father Rutilio Grande (Richard Jordan) is one such 'radical' priest, organizing a political opposition with the poor. Father Oscar Romero (Raul Julia) sympathizes with but disapproves of Grande's actions. He is aware of the social injustice that motivates Grande, but feels that such movements are outside the jurisdiction of the church.
Romero is considered to be a introverted, frail bookworm by his peers. He is appointed Archbishop as a compromise between the church's various factions. They believe that Romero will not only not cause trouble, but may even become an obliging puppet of the elitist, ruthless dictatorship.
But that wouldn't make for much of a movie. Romero was produced by the Paulist Fathers, an organization associated with the Catholic church. And it is obvious early on that Romero will have a great character transformation, and become both a nonviolent champion of the poor, and a heroic martyr.
The surprise is how effective and credible the transformation is. Of course, much of the credit goes to Raul Julia, an excellent actor whose performance is both understated and impassioned.
Sure, the script and direction is manipulative. We've seen these stereotypes before, even in better films, such as Under Fire (1983). The cynical, despotic President. The racist, uncaring rich. The faceless death squads. The terrorizing, sadistic military police. The humiliated poor, living in fear and filth. The just and courageous 'freedom fighters'.
But just because the characterizations are extreme and obvious, doesn't necessarily make them unconvincing and uncompelling. While Romero is a docudrama, it may also be a true story. That is, its spirit of nonviolent resistance to political oppression (as in Gandhi) may be right on target, despite the heavy handed direction.
Unlike in Salvador and Under Fire, the guerillas are not romanticized. Their actions are also condemned by Romero, who knows that they will simply inspire further violence. Romero sides not with the leftists, but with the poor. He becomes politicized to condemn government repression, but not to advocate its overthrow. Romero is willing to sacrifice himself in the cause of political and economic justice. That makes him a hero, by any definition. (68/100)
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