Educational Media Reviews Online

The shocking title of this documentary might surprise viewers who have not been educated about Latin American politics and El Salvador’s bloody civil war that lasted from the late 1970s into the 90s. Translated from the Spanish, "Be a patriot, kill a priest" is a direct quote from pamphlets that were circulated by the White Warriors Union, a Salvadoran paramilitary unit, in retaliation for the demands of Jesuit clergy who sought justice, food and education for the poor. Using interviews, old newsreels and reenactments, director Sante Altizio pieces several violent events together to create an historical picture of the economic oligarchy’s brutality against the church and the peasants it spoke for.

The weakness of this program, which could be offset in the classroom with supplementary information, is that it attempts in the beginning to summarize the events that led up to the mass murder of clergy by right-wing death squads. Twenty-six minutes is simply not enough time to explain why and how the Salvadoran government tried to justify its bloody dictatorship in the name of anticommunism. While Altizio does not sufficiently address these wider issues, he does a good job of focusing on the position of the Catholic Church in the conflict, describing the bravery and the ultimate fate of its outspoken priests. It must also be acknowledged that given the program’s restricted length, the director provided necessary, if minimal context.

The drama and the horror of the war are brought to life with photographs of the dead, menacing music and cuts to footage filmed in the negative, yet it is never melodramatic. In fact, when Father Michael Campbell, S.J., head of the Jesuit Development Services is interviewed in the Monsenor Romero Center’s Hall of Martyrs, he speaks of the 1989 massacre of six of his Brothers, but does not describe the ferocity of their killings or the gruesome mutilation of their corpses.

In essence, this documentary traces the mission of Jesuits in Latin America to improve conditions for all of humanity. Despite the assassinations and murders of clergy, including Rev. Rutilio Grande, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Rev. Ignacio Ellacuria and five other priests, Jesuits in El Salvador believe that such sacrifices were and continue to be worthwhile in the effort to follow Jesus Christ. In conjunction with a handful of other videos portraying the struggle of the church in Central America against tyranny, such as John Duigan’s film, Romero, this video is recommended for use in religious studies, politics, peace and justice studies and history classes at the college level.