Unbeknownst to Schindler — and to many others — Romero had changed during an extended stay, in the mid-'70s, far from the capital city. In the early '70s, as an auxiliary bishop in San Salvador, he was seen as highly conservative; that was the period when he drew the ire of the priests who were so upset by the news of his appointment as archbishop.
This clip includes a montage of speeches, events and pictures depicting the politics of the rich, Romero’s ministry, pictures of the “Disappeared” political prisoners kidnapped and/or killed by the El Salvadoran government, and the plot to assassinate the Archbishop. The film ends shortly after his martyrdom. 1.
The radicalization of Romero is shown in terms of his responses to a series of personal experiences. He counsels trust, but then he sees deception. He would like to consider the government honest, but he is lied to. He sees the evidence of murder and repression, and he cannot ignore it any longer.
As the Archbishop of San Salvador during El Salvador's brutal civil war, Romero became the "bishop of the poor" for his work defending the Salvadoran people. After calling for international intervention to protect those being killed by government forces, Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980.
He becomes more active and tried to do something to end it. After this event, he changed into a different person and sacrificed himself. At the event of military take over of the church in Aguilares, he sacrifices himself by going into the church that was taken over by military force.
St Romero became a very powerful advocate for this world-view. In his homilies, he denounced the government for the various ways it oppressed the poorest of Salvadoran society. He appealed to them to end the killings and to begin reforming land ownership and allow for political representation of the poor.
In the beginning, Romero is conservative in every sense of the word. By the end, he has become a committed leader and spokesman for the oppressed who are, in the movie's view, being slaughtered in their quest for democracy and equality.
Romero's path to becoming an outspoken advocate of the poor ended with his 1980 assassination, ordered by right-wing officials. He had been celebrating Mass when a gunman shot him in the heart. His death became a pivotal point at the start of El Salvador's bloody 12-year civil war, which left about 75,000 people dead.
His unreserved advocacy for human rights made him a hero to many, and he was nominated for the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace by a number of U.S. congressmen and 118 members of the British Parliament. The following year Romero was assassinated at the hands of an unknown assailant while saying mass.
No one has to become a martyr or a saint, but Saint Romero shows us that speaking the truth, and living a life according to that truth is what leaves a lasting legacy. Saint Romero's legacy did not just change El Salvador back then, but the lessons we wean from his life have the potential to change it today.
Archbishop Óscar Romero (Raul Julia) is reluctant to get involved in a war that rages on between the military elite and guerrilla Marxists in his country of El Salvador. As conditions worsen and more churches are desecrated, however, he finds he cannot remain an observer. So Romero resorts to what he knows best: making speeches. The tenets he preaches are simply freedom and justice, but even so, he is seen as dangerous by the government and they are ready to retaliate.Romero / Film synopsis
Plot Summary (3) Based on a true story, Romero was assassinated in March, 1980. Romero is the true story of Archbishop Oscar Romero who lived in El Salvador during the political unrest in the 1980s. The government has launched a 'terror campaign' against the guerillas in an attempt to crush them.
Undeterred, Romero rejects the violent methods of the guerrillas, but is nonetheless assassinated while saying Mass, specifically while consecrating the Eucharist. The film concludes with text stating: Archbishop Romero was assassinated on March 24, 1980.
His legacy of showing a preference for the poor and promoting peace lives on in his native country of El Salvador, where, even in death, he plays a role in the country's public life and occupies a special place in its collective consciousness and collective memory. San Oscar A. Romero is now El Salvador's first saint.
What position does Romero hold in both the Church and the country? He is an archbishop of El Salvador. This made him a religious leader and a major political figure.
Thousands of people began to go missing. Romero demanded that the President of El Salvador thoroughly investigate the killings, but he failed to do so. In his actions and words, Romero demanded a peace that could only be found by ensuring people had access to basic needs and their rights upheld.
Romero is buried during a Palm Sunday ceremony presided over by Mexican Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada, who could not finish the Mass because military forces opened fire against the mourners.
The conventional wisdom is gravely mistaken.
After visiting the scene, Romero wrote a letter to the then-president, Col. Arturo Molina, expressing his "firm protest" for
Romero denounced the government's version of the incident as "a lie from beginning to end.". In those days, with a military dictatorship ruling El Salvador, statements like that could easily become a person's last words; even before that, Romero had been getting serious death threats.
Romero is murdered by a sniper while celebrating Mass in a chapel at the cancer hospital La Divina Providencia. His death helped spark a civil war that lasted 12 years (1980-1992) and left 75,000 dead.
Romero celebrates his first Mass in Ciudad Barrios. Romero is made a monsignor and moves to San Salvador, where the El Salvador Bishops’ Conference appoints Romero as its secretary. He holds the post until 1974.
Tweet this. But when Romero returned to the capital as archbishop in 1977, he invited the Jesuits to produce a daily hourlong news and commentary program for the archdiocesan radio station, and he consulted Sobrino, among others, when he was preparing his pastoral letters.
Advertisement. Romero was shot to death while celebrating mass. He was, at the time, not only the spiritual leader of El Salvador's Catholics but one of the most outspoken critics of the government - a government portrayed in this film as little more than a holding company for the economic exploiters of the country.
Romero is portrayed in the film by Raul Julia, who plays him as a reasonable, thoughtful man, slow to anger, willing to see both sides.
Roger Ebert. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
As a result, the film doesn't stir many passions, and it seems more sorrowing than angry. Romero was a good man, he did what his heart told him to do and he died for his virtues. It is a story told every day in Latin America. Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013.