I first saw this film about 12 years ago on video, as a fan of James Woods. It's such a powerful and thought provoking film. I can't understand why this work is frequently ignored when Oliver Stone's more 'popular' films are discussed. I found the rape and murder scene of the nuns particularly disturbing. Really upset me.
shareI was affected in the same way. It physically sickened me. A very powerful movie.
shareThis incident really occured in El Salvador in 1980. Another movie was based on the women's ordeal named "Choices of the Heart." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085332/
http://www.fssca.net/martyrs/wiki.html
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Oliver Stone is America-hating hack. Anything in one of his movie's is almost guaranteed to be the opposite of the truth.
shareHell yeah! USA! USA! USA!
shareheh heh heh, you guys are funny. I thought this film was very well made. One o fthe most powerful films ive seen in a long time, and a lot better then Natural Born Killers, or Alexander.
shareHey xxxpremierexxxx, I really hope that you were being ironic. Don't you think the US government should have been doing more for people in the US than blowing millions on trying to stop a civil war (not a Communist plot!)? I guess they were too busy raising money by allowing cocaine and crack to ravage America to bother with the truth. Most governments are untrustworthy and corrupt, but the Republicans of the early 1980s set new standards in walking all over people.
shareIsn't Oliver Stone hating the USA because he had a pretty *beep* deal under the goverment. Simplistic I know, but shuffle forward into his shoes and may you'd feel the same.
shareHe doesn't hate America. He, like most Americans, wants what he believes is best for America. Just because his political views don't align with yours doesn't mean he hates America. I think that his movies are a bit heavy-handed and overt at times in their meaning, but he gets his point across well. Also, people seem to forget that he is a Vietnam vet, which is where most of his left-wing sensibilities come from. I'm not trying to be an Oliver Stone fanboy or anything, as I'm far from it, I'm just trying to shed some light on the other side of pure, unquestioning patriotism versus the patriotism of dissension. It amazes me that most conservatives honestly believe that liberals hate America when that's simply not the case. I'm more of a moderate before you jump to conclusions, but I believe everyone deserves a fair shot at explaining themselves without political and partisan bull *beep* taking the place of honesty and openness.
"Why always with the fighting?"
-Dr. John Zoidberg
The rape and murder of the American churchwomen--three nuns and a layworker--is a fact. The atrocity occured in December of 1980. There is an excellent documentary about the layworker, Jean Donovan, titled "Roses in December."
Your tax dollars at work.
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Wait they were nuns? Kathy wasn't a nun, surely? You said one of them wasn't a nun.
Strange, I didn't think that they were nuns, just volunteers helping out.
Jean Donovan was a Maryknoll layworker. Two of her companions, Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, were Maryknoll Sisters, and Dorothy Kazel was an Ursuline nun.
sharemade me sick too...but in my opinion, one of the signs of a great film....
as one of the kids in the flic said, god left that country a long time ago
it is better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it
The Maryknolls are the Marxist wing of the Catholic church. They were notorious for supporting the Soviet Union's client states and guerrilla groups during the Cold War. What the movie doesn't show was that the murderers of the Marxist nuns were arrested, convicted and jailed.
shareThe Maryknolls are the Marxist wing of the Catholic church. They were notorious for supporting the Soviet Union's client states and guerrilla groups during the Cold War. What the movie doesn't show was that the murderers of the Marxist nuns were arrested, convicted and jailed.Well, thanks - that should certainly temper any outrage that non-anti-Marxists feel about the murder of nuns... share
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Besides that, the two other parts that got an emotional reaction from me was the tracheotomy scene with John Savage and the end when the men are ripping the film out if the cansiters with James Woods up against the wall helpless...
"HE DIED GETTING THAT FILM!" Man, what a scene.