Sickeningly, the most remarkable thing about Archbishop Oscar Romero's time as the head of the church in turbulent, tortured El Salvador from 1977 to 1980 is that he actually lasted three years. 'He's a good compromise choice,' it's said at his inauguration. 'He'll make no waves. He's a bookworm. His health is delicate. He won't last.' This proives partly true at first. However, faced with the massacres of his people, asassinations of priests and desecration of churches, Romero really has little alternative but to speak out against the atrocities perpetrated by the repressive, army-based government. It's part of a number of downbeat aspects in the film that you see little chance of his rhetoric changing things and are left with increasing incredulity that such a heinous government could have let him go on so lonmg. Raul Julia is much less flamboyant than usual as Romero, but Richard Jordan's charismatic priest catches the eye before he's despatched early on in this sad, solid sincere film, entirely untypical of its director, that leaves you with a sense of despair.


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