The Murder of the Archbishop--Fade In . . .

The occupants of the red sedan tensed. Several yards ahead, blue-uniformed federales herded people out of their cars at a roadblock. Women and babies were crying. In their eagerness to find a cache of drugs or weapons the soldiers had overturned family belongings and heaved them on the side of the road. The guns the soldiers carried--and on occasion pointed at people--were loaded.

A passenger in the car urged the driver not to be cocky with the young soldier who approached. Under no circumstances should the driver try to continue until the soldier was satisfied. After all, in this country anyone is suspect until proven innocent under the search-and-seizure laws.

The driver told the soldier in Spanish that they were part of the “Romero” crew headed for that day’s location shooting at an aqueduct about 15 miles away.

The soldier glanced inside the car at a gringo dressed in street clothes. With only a wooden cross around his neck, Father Ellwood Kieser of Los Angeles easily could have been mistaken for just another actor. In fact, he’s the head of the nonprofit Paulist Pictures. He’s making a movie about the life and death of Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who until he was assassinated in 1980 was the most prominent spokesman for human rights in civil war-torn El Salvador.

Next, the soldier slowly stared at those in the back seat. “We pass through here every day--it’s part of our routine,” the Mexican driver implored.

Suddenly, the soldier waved the car on.

Father Kieser sighed in relief. At least he’d still be on time for the day’s filming. It would depict the brutal drive-by killings of the Salvadoran priest Rutilio Grande, an old man and three children who were assassinated on a back road by a right-wing Salvadoran death squad.

And while Kieser enthused about having found the perfect location site for the assassination scene, for some of the passengers the real-life encounter at the roadblock already had effectively eclipsed anything Hollywood film makers could marshal.

Not a Docudrama

Intense heat greeted the passengers as the car caught up with the film crew just wrapping a scene in the poverty-stricken farming village of Rancheria Tecajec. All around were lean-to adobe huts, with pets and farm animals running freely. Scantily dressed, brown-faced ninos peered through fence slats at the goings on. There was little contrast between them and the half-naked sunburned film crew trying to cope with the heat.

Later, near an abandoned aqueduct site, Kieser issued plantation-styled straw hats to visitors for protection against the scorching sun. He then applied gobs of white suntan lotion to his already sunburned face. Removing his glasses, he resembled a mime. In the distance smoke from a sugar cane refinery in Cuautla was the only blemish in a clear, cobalt sky.

It was time for a run-through of the scene in which Father Grande, a cleric friend of Romero’s, drove down a lonely road on his way to say Mass. His car stalled as he picked up three school children.

But in reality, an old man and one teen-ager were in the car, according to an Amnesty International report on Grande’s assassination in 1973. Why did the movie have children, who later are allowed to escape with their lives by a right-wing officer?

“We’re not trying to do a docudrama or documentary,” Kieser said. “This is a Hollywood movie like ‘Gandhi.’ It’s a ‘Becket’ kind of story, a man who is transformed by the responsibility of office.” Sounding like the proverbial hard-sell agent, he called the production, “A ‘Man for All Seasons’ tale of a very reluctant martyr and hero. It’s a hell of a story.”

(Those wanting a more politicized film may have to wait and see if leftist-oriented director Gillo Pontecorvo (“The Battle of Algiers”) gets his proposed Romero assassination project, “The Devil’s Bishop,” onto the screen.)

Slain During Mass

Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, 62, an outspoken critic of the Salvadoran regime then in power, was assassinated during a funeral Mass for his mother on March 24, 1980, in San Salvador’s Divine Providence Hospital Chapel. At the time, Romero had tried to maintained a non-partisan role between El Salvador’s warring left and right factions which were receiving outside support. Many believe he was the target of rightist death squads, after he urged military conscripts to disobey orders that went against their moral convictions. Romero’s murder, however, was only the most notable of the thousands of political killings of civilians and clergy who spoke out against the repressive upper-class government that was and still is supported by the United States.

The filming of this controversial figure’s life is almost unprecedented for the Catholic Church. Besides being financed in part by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “Romero” may be the first theatrical feature ever made under church auspices.

Then there’s the sponsorship by the church of a film that portrays several priests involved in a “liberation theology,” advocating an end to government repression of individual liberties by invoking Marxist solutions. For some, this may fly in the face of recent Vatican edicts by the staunchly anti-communist Pope John Paul II.

But, said Kieser, “I think the Pope will see this picture. I don’t know what he will think of it. My job is not to please the Pope but to communicate the Gospels and to tell the truth as it was distilled by Oscar Romero.”

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahoney said the church’s involvement in film making wasn’t anything new. “The Franciscans and Paulists among others have been producing films for years,” he said in a telephone interview last week. “What is new is that the church is now using modern communications to address the Latino community directly.”

“I don’t feel this is a political film. Oscar Romero’s real concern was for his people and his country; he wasn’t running for office, he wasn’t looking for support from the government.”

It’s a ‘Crapshoot’

It was only a few years ago that Oliver Stone encountered problems in getting his own low-budget, independent film, “Salvador” off the ground. And while that Oscar-nominated film treaded on similar ground, there are obvious differences. The focal point of Stone’s film was his burned-out reporter (James Woods) who witnesses events before and after Romero’s death.

Like Stone, Kieser almost single-handedly assembled the meager (by motion picture standards) $3.5-million budget. It took him a full year, but by making what effectively were sales pitches to groups and foundations, he little by little, raised the coin. It also took a letter by Archbishop Mahony saying he approved of the project, of Kieser and his Paulist Films. “He turned around and did an individual letter for every foundation.”

Besides the Archdiocese funds, which include the Catholic Communications Campaign ($238,000), funding also came from the U.S. Catholic Conference ($50,000) and Paulist Fathers ($100,000), among others.

Once he had sold the foreign distribution rights to August Entertainment of Los Angeles and Warner Bros., it was easier to secure additional budget loans. Kieser has approached a couple of studios for U.S. distribution, but so far has been turned down. Nevertheless, he hopes for an early 1989 release.

Kieser is no stranger to Hollywood production maneuvering. His Paulist TV series “Insight” (no longer in production but still seen in reruns) enjoyed a 23-year run. During that time Kieser was able to lure top Hollywood names for his program because many of the stars were Catholic. His feature TV film “We Are the Children” on hunger was made in Africa and aired on ABC.

“Every movie’s a crapshoot, but the odds are pretty damn good here,” Kieser bluntly said of “Romero’s” potential box office. “So I’m not going to mortgage the picture.” Sounding every bit the Hollywood pro, he boasted: I’m spending $3.5 million . . . but I’m going to show them (the distributors) a $12-million picture.”

Considering the low budget, Kieser was able to assemble a surprisingly strong group of principals--and pay them only scale wages. If you ask how he manages to do this, he “thanks God” for the luck. But he admitted that one of his religious colleagues told him it was due to Kieser’s “stubborn, Germanic gall.”

Still others who have watched Kieser work over the years say the priest’s “persuasive” ability to cajole and do a little old-fashioned arm twisting has been more intimidating than “brotherly.”

The principles include:

--Screenwriter John Sacret Young, the co-creator and executive producer of the ABC series “China Beach,” and Australian director John Duigan, whose (soon to be released in the U.S.) film “The Year My Voice Broke” won five major Australian Academy Awards last year.

--A largely Latino cast headed by Raul Julia as Oscar Romero, with Ana Alicia, a regular on the CBS Friday night soap series “Falcon Crest,” who plays the wife of a kidnaped government official, and Tony Plana, who was featured in the films “Latino” and “Salvador,” as a Marxist-leaning priest who attempts to persuade Romero to sanction an armed response to the killings of priests and villagers in El Salvador.

When the movie company started filming some weeks earlier (in Cuernavaca, about 25 miles to the northwest), Kieser celebrated by offering a Mass for the entire cast and crew.

“I thought it was appropriate because I wanted to draw this community together . . . to focus for them that we were doing it for God, about God, but also, with God,” he said. “I wanted God involved in the creative process, so at the offertory the director brought out the view-finder, the writer, his script; the cameraman, a roll of film. Everyone brought up their offering. Afterward, we had a big party.”

And why was Kieser filming a movie about Romero in Mexico? “I’m too realistic to film in El Salvador. I would not want the responsibility. I don’t think they would bother our crew, but they might want to pick off an actor, or kill an actor. That’s why I never considered that.”

Kieser said the names of the leaders involved in the Salvadoran civil war aren’t named in the film, “primarily because we could be sued for libel. We had to get insurance for this picture. People like Roberto D’Aubuisson (the founder of the Salvadoran rightist Arena party and a purported leader of the death squads) are alive and thriving in El Salvador. Certainly many of the events we depict from the murders and tortures are within his character. If he were dead, we could use his name.”

He said one of the reasons Paramount Pictures initially turned down the project was because of all the lawsuits generated by Costa-Gavras’ “Missing.” The Universal release named names and then was tied up in the courts.

Another reason for changing names, Kieser said, was that Romero never wanted the clergy involved in partisan politics. “He wanted the church to be able to criticize the violations of human rights. . . . I’m telling the story of this flawed, earthy, psychologically scarred saint. It isn’t necessary to use those names to tell that story. It will only confuse people.”

Day of the Death

Screenwriter John Sacret Young recalled providing the seed for the “Romero” project after he worked with Kieser on one of his “Insight” programs, a decade ago. “On the day that Romero was killed in 1980, I sent Kieser a copy of the newspaper report, in essence telling him that I felt this might be the appropriate vehicle for a film. He kept after me, but I resisted. Finally, he invited me to accompany him (to El Salvador) and see for myself.”

Kieser said both men researched the Romero story at length. “We talked to both his friends and enemies. His enemies told us he was ‘a demagogue,’ that he ‘went too far,’ or that he was ‘a Jesuit dupe’ or ‘a communist.’ Even the American ambassador to El Salvador told us Romero had been imprudent.”

But the whole story of the true extent of Romero’s activism isn’t told in this film biography.

In real life, for instance, Archbishop Romero met with both Pope Paul VI and later John Paul II to discuss the Salvadoran conflict. Also not mentioned in the movie is a letter he wrote two months before his death to President Carter appealing to Carter’s “religious sentiments and feelings for the defense of human rights.” He asked Carter to prohibit U.S. military aid to the Salvadoran government.

“We originally had a scene in Rome. But, (1) I couldn’t find an actor to portray John Paul (2) it takes the film out of El Salvador and (3) we have a scene where his own bishops work him over with a lot of that,” Kieser said, brushing the criticisms aside.

Also missing from the film are crucial events that influenced Romero’s decision to stay in his native El Salvador, including the Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua’s offer to Romero for asylum. The same is true for Romero’s nomination by some British Parliament members and American congressmen for the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

Squirt Guns, Extras

The film “Salvador” has had an impact on “Romero” in a way no one would have suspected. According to Michael Rhodes, the film’s supervising producer, the only problem that the production has encountered--and it’s about to finish shooting this week--has been the failure to get the Mexican military to portray the Salvadoran army.

“Actually the reason our military permit didn’t come through was the fact that they (the Mexican military) got burned with Oliver Stone’s ‘Salvador,’ ” Rhodes said. “Roberto D’Aubuisson’s (party) still in power in El Salvador and he was hacked off to see the Mexican military portraying Salvadoran soldiers committing atrocities. He’s a friend of the general who heads the Mexican department of defense. “D’Aubuisson urged the general to show some sensitivity to their neighbor to the south and stressed cooperation between the military of the two countries. It wasn’t a matter of bribes or going through the wrong channels, or even the fact that Mexico has a national election this month.

“We were stuck. We either had to move south to Guatemala or Belize or north to the U.S. border and make it pass for El Salvador. Or we had to try to mount an entire military contingent that wasn’t dependent on Mexico,” Rhodes said. The latter proved easiest.

“Since we couldn’t bring in real weapons I found a mock-up of an AR-15 (squirt gun) at $3 a weapon with a Woolworth sticker. We couldn’t get them from Los Angeles because they were too real-looking. So we bought out the warehouse (of guns) that Woolworth couldn’t sell. The supplier sent the squirt guns down by the boxful as regular luggage because there was a big backlog in air cargo. Ultimately, all the cast and crew coming from the States carried squirt guns as part of their luggage.”

Another concern was the budget for extras, Rhodes said. He had $40,000 budgeted to feed and and pay extras. He noted that some producers filming in Mexico have been paying as high as $40 a day, compared to a high of $86 a day in the United States.

Rhodes was referring to the recent spate of Hollywood productions shooting in Mexico, including the independent production “Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Kids”(tentatively set for Disney distribution), the upcoming new James Bond film and the just-completed “Old Gringo,” from Columbia Pictures, starring Jane Fonda. (“Old Gringo” reportedly paid extras $8 a day without meals; “Romero” is paying $6 a day with meals.)

“In Tejalpa, a suburb of Cuernavaca, we approached a local parish and explained what the project was about. They were in the midst of a fund-raiser to paint their church and get a telephone for the local priest. So we did that for them and they volunteered their services.” Informed of the military roadblock, Rhodes, exhausted by a day full of more important logistical snafus, shrugged. “They weren’t actually looking for drugs or weapons. It’s the election. I bet there were PRI (an acronym for Mexico’s ruling political party) signs nearby. It’s to let the people know the government is doing its job. But it’s only during elections that you notice such activity. Nevertheless, Kieser was lucky he wasn’t bringing any squirt guns to the set.”

Director’s Challenge

John Duigan sat at one of the tables under a large tent that kept the beating sun at bay. Like most directors, Duigan’s time is most in demand. Chatting between bites of his meal, he related the most challenging aspect in this film.

“It’s to do justice to a reality that is fairly recent and which is important to people in Latin America, especially El Salvador. We’re trying to distill some three years of history into a film. It involves a lot of choices.

“We have to maintain a sense of the human scale. I don’t want to turn Romero into some kind of superman. Instead we want to show a frail human being who made choices that cost him his life. So you need to get inside the man to understand why he made those hard choices. We definitely don’t want to glamorize him or enlarge him.”

“Romero” is Duigan’s first American film. Although he has proven his success at home, (his recent “The Year My Voice Broke,” a coming-of-age film set in 1950s Australia won five Aussie Academy Awards and will soon appear in the United States), he’s pleased to finally be working on an American film. “Almost any film maker realizes Hollywood is the mainstream.” After “Romero,” he plans a British-financed film titled “Ice Dancer,” a story of two Australian athletes during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

“A re-occurring interest in most of my films deals with human beings facing complex social and political questions that require them to take some type of stand. Human beings taking responsibility for their own lives. . . .”

The Pious Priest

On the northern edge of Cuautla, a billboard advertises “Hacienda Cocoyoc: The Paradise of the Americas.” It easily rivals any Las Vegas spa with its seven restaurants, three outdoor swimming pools and 24 smaller pools in individual suites, a golf course, three tennis courts, church mission, and resident masseuse, among the amenities provided. Here’s where the “Romero” principal cast makes its home. The hotel’s thick, stone walls and cast iron security gates resemble a fortress--and with good reason: Just a few feet on the other side the poverty is overwhelming. Women can be seen bathing screaming babies in dirty ditch water.

Raul Julia was on a two-day respite the week that the Grande assassination scenes were being shot. In his suite at the Hacienda Cocoyoc resort, he was battling a slight case of dysentery. A book on Romero’s life and bottles of mineral water were at his side. He appeared extremely gaunt and his short, cropped hair, grayed for his part as Oscar Romero, added to this impression.

His breakneck work pace may have explained his fatigue. After all, in the last year Julia completed five films (the just released “The Penitent,” along with the still unreleased “Moon Over Parador,” “Tango Bar,” “Tequila Sunset” and “Trading Hearts”) and the miniseries “Onassis: the Richest Man in the World.”

As soon as he finishes “Romero,” he’s off to London to start rehearsals to reprise his stage role of Macheath in “Three Penny Opera,” for Cannon Films.

Amazingly, Julia is one of the few Latino actors who has avoided being typecast. “I think it has to do with my intentions as an actor. I did the same in the theater. I’ve always done parts that were different, from Shakespeare, Chekhov to Macheath. It established me. Joseph Papp is planning to do all of Shakespeare’s plays in six years. I’ve been talking about doing ‘King Lear.’ ”

He finds the role of “Romero” just as challenging because he feels Romero was a saint. “First of all, he was a human being who had the guts and courage to speak against a repressive government. He also was a human being who had faith in God. I am sure that he will be canonized by the Roman Catholic church. Whether it’s 25 or 50 years from now, it doesn’t matter.”

And will audiences find themselves drawn to this tale of a pious priest? “Audiences are so underestimated. Romero was a human being who committed himself to his fellow man and God. He saw God in everyone. God was the people for him. He became the voice of the people, but it was the people who gave him that voice. The film ‘Gandhi’ was popular. People are hungry for stuff like that. People also want to see transcendental things to feel better about themselves as human beings.”

Would critics be kinder to his role as a priest as opposed to his recent “Onassis” role in which Julia bore little physical affinity to the real Onassis?

“The critics love to talk about such things. It’s funny because it’s so shallow and superficial. But mark my words, all you have to do is tell a critic that Romero was short and fat, although he wasn’t actually fat, and they’re going to pick it up even if they don’t know who Romero was, which most of them don’t anyway. But they’ll pick it up and put it in the review. I can see the headlines already: ‘Onassis Goes Latin.’

He admitted that he tried a prosthetic device to make him “lantern-jawed” as the script describes the Salvadoran archbishop. “I will consider anything that is physically possible. In ‘Onassis,’ I considered a nose but it looked ridiculous. For Romero, the jaw device was uncomfortable and didn’t add anything to the role. I think it’s more important to capture the essence of the man.”

That evening, at one of the Cocoyoc’s smaller conference rooms, a 35-millimeter movie projector was set up to watch the previous day’s rushes. As night fell, the film’s principals and crew members arrived, somewhat refreshed after a shower or a dip in one of the pools. Father Kieser was even more sunburned than the previous day. Even the drivers for the production stood against the back wall eager to see how it was going.

On the makeshift screen, Julia’s figure loomed tall above the rest. From afar as he turned his back, his gray hair and glasses, he could have easily been mistaken for Ellwood Kieser. And while a huge sign found near the San Salvador airport had been faithfully reproduced, other local things weren’t (typical Mexican taco stands were evident but none selling pupusas , a standard Salvadoran delicacy).

A Wedding Present

Between the setup of reels, Tony Plana, who portrays a leftist-activist priest in this film, sat reading a “Love & Rockets” comic book. In “Salvador,” he played a character based on Major D’Aubuisson.

“My mom’s real excited that I’m a priest in this one. I’ve played so many bad guys that she was beginning to wonder. So far I haven’t told her that I’m a revolutionary in this one and use a gun,” he mused.

Plana, a veteran actor, has appeared in a bevy of Latino films from “Zoot Suit” to the recent “Born in East L.A.” He said he has been drawn to most of these working-for-scale projects like “Romero” and the forthcoming “Break of Dawn” (the true story of L.A. radio pioneer Pedro J. Gonzalez) “because I feel so many of these stories have to be told. I just hope that we aren’t just preaching to the coverted.”

Plana was pleasantly surprised at the end of the following day’s shoot when Kieser presented him with a wedding present on behalf of the production: a pair of round-trip tickets for Plana and his then bride-to-be, Ada Maris, for their honeymoon back at the location. In keeping with the film’s low-key approach, the tickets weren’t first-class.

“El Salvador: Central America in the New Cold War” (Grove Press, 1987 , edited by Marvin E. Gettleman, Patrick Lacefield, Louis Menashe and David Mermelstein) was used as a historical source.