Romero

John Duigan's 1989 film tells the life of Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador. Taking office as an accommodating cleric who kept away from politics, Romero changed gradually in the face of military violence and social injustice and became a voice openly opposing the regime. He was killed while saying mass in 1980. Raúl Juliá's performance builds the transformation not as a moment of revelation but as an accumulation of single encounters: a funeral, a torture, the killing of a friend. The film was produced by a Catholic Paulist production company in the United States, which explains the reverence of its tone; American support for the Salvadoran military is treated too gently. Who it's for: viewers interested in Latin American political history, liberation theology and religious biography. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding scenes of violence and execution, or expecting the political context to be handled more harshly.