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the US, Jean lands a high-paying job with a business consulting firm, allowing her to spend freely on expensive toys such as a new car and a motorcycle, but she soon feels dissatisfied with her hedonistic lifestyle. Although she has begun a serious relationship with medical student Doug Cable, she applies for a
Catholic lay missionary program and is sent to El Salvador, where she works with Sister Dorothy Kazel to help the local poor.
309:
preparing for the
Catholic priesthood. Armando sneaks over to Jean's house in the middle of the night, but Jean, realizing their feelings for each other are wrong, sends him away, only for him him be shot dead by soldiers as he is leaving. The charismatic Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, who is loved and admired by the people, is also assassinated by the military for speaking out against their oppressive and violent regime.
346:. The sisters had dedicated years of their lives to working with refugees and the poor in El Salvador and elsewhere. Lay missionary Jean Donovan had been in El Salvador for over two years helping the poor, especially children, and repeatedly expressed in her letters to her family in the U.S. that God brought her to El Salvador. Attempts were made by the Salvadoran and American governments to try to
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Despite Jean's grief and the obvious danger, plus a threat from Doug that he will end their relationship if Jean doesn't come home to the US, Jean cannot bring herself to leave El
Salvador, especially when she thinks of the Salvadoran children she has grown to love. Jean's refusal to leave eventually
304:
In college, Jean drinks and parties with her friends during a study abroad year in Dublin, until she is contacted by Father Phelan, a
Catholic priest seeking help with his ministry to the local poor. Self-centered and initially uninterested, Jean slowly becomes drawn to helping those in need. Back in
308:
Jean's assertive manner in standing up against injustice soon draws negative attention from the
Salvadoran military, who run the area (with the support of the US government) and harass and intimidate the residents. A mutual romantic attraction develops between Jean and Armando, a local youth who is
301:
group of armed soldiers. The women then go missing and the US Ambassador to El
Salvador, Robert White, searches for them, eventually finding their bodies in a shallow grave. White's search for the women and then for answers about what happened to them is interspersed with flashbacks of Jean's life.
313:
results in a military death squad raping, torturing, and killing her along with the three religious sisters she was driving to the mission house. Ambassador White's attempt to get justice for Jean and her companions is frustrated by lack of cooperation from both the
Salvadoran and US governments.
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As the film opens, Jean
Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel meet Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford at the El Salvador airport, and the four pile into a van driven by Jean for the trip back to the mission where Jean and Dorothy live and work. Shortly after leaving the airport, the van is stopped by a
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The film is based on actual events. On
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priest whom Donovan meets while spending her junior college year in
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Jean Donovan, were raped, tortured, and murdered by a Salvadoran
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Maura Clark, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel, and the lay Catholic
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Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
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256:based on the lives of the American
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1192:Films directed by Joseph Sargent
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276:, all of whom were murdered in
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382:appears as Matt Phelan, a
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231:December 5, 1983
1207:Films about Catholic nuns
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342:, possibly funded by the
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1060:The Long Island Incident
713:The Spy in the Green Hat
1154:Sweet Nothing in My Ear
1130:Something the Lord Made
290:Archbishop Oscar Romero
202:Katz-Gallin Productions
772:The Man Who Died Twice
411:- Doug (Douglas Cable)
370:, then U.S. President
1202:Films about activists
1177:1983 television films
1084:A Lesson Before Dying
571:July 5, 2008, at the
204:Half-Pint Productions
1237:1980s American films
1068:Crime and Punishment
1044:Mandela and de Klerk
916:There Must Be a Pony
902:Love Is Never Silent
886:Choices of the Heart
728:The Sunshine Patriot
721:The Hell with Heroes
589:Choices of the Heart
282:Salvadoran Civil War
246:Choices of the Heart
199:Production companies
186:George Jay Nicholson
167:Production locations
110:Theme music composer
23:Choices of the Heart
996:Somebody's Daughter
803:Friendly Persuasion
456:- Archbishop Romero
280:in 1980 during the
251:made-for-television
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894:Terrible Joe Moran
685:Films directed by
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74:Peter Horton
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842:Amber Waves
430:Mari Gorman
340:death squad
278:El Salvador
194:100 minutes
84:Mari Gorman
56:Directed by
1182:1983 films
1171:Categories
1028:My Antonia
870:Nightmares
835:Goldengirl
500:References
415:Helen Hunt
376:Ambassador
354:Production
336:missionary
321:See also:
317:Background
254:drama film
235:1983-12-05
207:Metromedia
136:Production
78:Helen Hunt
46:Written by
1106:Bojangles
964:Caroline?
827:MacArthur
477:- Armando
450:- Patrick
441:- Sister
432:- Sister
423:- Sister
155:Producers
1076:The Wall
819:Hustling
779:Sunshine
569:Archived
516:Archived
434:Ita Ford
348:cover up
274:Ita Ford
66:Starring
1012:Abraham
1004:Skylark
948:Day One
856:Freedom
765:The Man
417:- Cathy
388:Ireland
233: (
228:Release
218:Network
131:English
1157:(2008)
1149:(2007)
1141:(2005)
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700:(1959)
489:- Gwen
384:Dublin
366:plays
360:Mexico
272:, and
183:Editor
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41:Drama
38:Genre
594:IMDb
394:Cast
296:Plot
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222:NBC
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