ccthemovieman-1
I'll always remember the name Raul Julio for this picture. I guess I don't really remember him in other films except for smaller roles. This was one of his acting career highlights, I would assume.This is a powerful movie based on history in the late '70s in El Salvardor, where a country's leaders were killing thousands of dissidents including clergy in the Roman Catholic Church. Julia plays "Archbishop Romero." He is interesting to watch and the center of the story.This is a violent, sometimes unpleasant movie to watch but if your concerned about profanity or sex, you don't have to worry: it's not here. That's hard to find in a modern action-drama.The downside was that despite the above, the story just wasn't that memorable to me. Also, I have serious questions about the slant in here. Knowing the film world, I know which way it would be politically and, frankly, I don't know the real story....but as a movie, it's not bad.
weirsal
Raul Julia gives his routine wonderful performance as Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador, playground of right-wing paramilitary militia sponsored by successive military juntas subsidized by the CIA and successive US Administrations. Archbishop Romero slowly evolved from a bookworm to a politically aware activist as he came to realize what the military regimes were doing to the poor of his country. He paid the ultimate price willingly. Unlike today's cowards, who proclaim martyrdom and kill themselves and a few or many others in the name of some sterile ideology, Romero accepted martyrdom in the name of a living gospel he deeply believed in, in order to save lives, not to take them.Julia looks absolutely nebbish in his glasses, and proves his genius as a thespian. Alas, he is not with us any longer, so that pretty boys of 2005 can only watch his films and learn how to act.Highly recommended film, especially for the vast majority of US citizens who think that Ronald Reagan and his ilk actually did good things in El Salvador, Nicaragua and other places in America.
sologdin
...of El Salvador during the late 70s. For all of its "humanitarian" committments, the Carter administration in the US went out of its way to arm, fund, and support regimes such as the quasi-fascists in El Salvador who are depicted in *Romero*. This practice of US support for far-right dictators was (and continues to be) par for the course during the Cold War, and it is of course completely reprehensible; the death of Archbishop Romero and 75K other Salvadorans is on the hands of the CIA and the Pentagon. For shame.The film understates this savage process very well, only casually hinting at US responsibility for the atrocious poverty and human rights issues in Central America (M-16s in the hands of the military, Romero's open letter to Carter, etc); jingos in the US probably won't notice the subtlety here, however. Indeed, such superpatriot fools will no doubt look at this film as yet more evidence of the greatness of "America" (whatever that is), and further demonstration of how the "Third World" can't get its act together. Little do these folks realize that US prosperity is directly related to the misery that the US produces across the globe, as in eE Salvador.
Bravo, Julia and Paulist films.
einhard-1
Easily the best political movie in the past 20 years. If you watch this movie and are not moved by the story of the abuse and the archbishop's fight against it, you need to go to a doctor to see if your heart is still in your chest. While it is a moving film, it is also very disturbing because of the graphic nature of some of the abuse suffered by characters in the film. A must see for Catholics. While the events depicted in the movie are true, keep in mind that there are exaggerations and omissions. Don't believe everything that is in a political movie as fact. Check out the story yourself from respected sources on both sides of the argument.
AD
