While the story of Romero is set in 1977, the destruction and violence lasted for many years after, well into the 1990s. This brings us to the second temporality to consider when discussing film; the moment of production. Romero was produced in 1989, 12 years after the year Romero was set in. The same year Romero was released, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) attacks intensified, and Arena candidate Alfredo Cristiani was voted president in the elections that were believed to be rigged, similar to the 1977 elections depicted in Romero. During the 1980s, when Romero was being produced, the El Salvador Civil War was ongoing and deliberate targeting of civilians by death squads was a common occurrence as depicted in Romero.
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The first scene of the sequence depicts the bishops of El Salvador, including Romero, debating over whether to have one common mass. The second scene of the sequence shows Romero as he walks into a building to find a common girl, with whom he sits and converses. This sequence is crucial to the narrative arc as it conveys the precise moment Romero voices his belief that there should only be one mass for everyone to attend, after the brutal murder of innocent civilians, which reveals to the audience his support for liberation theology. The most obvious cinematic tool used to explicitly disclose the theme of liberation theology within the first scene is diegetic sound in the form of dialogue. While debating over Romero’s proposal of a combined mass, one of the bishops against the idea says “‘a church’s job is to preach the gospel, this is going to be interpreted as a political statement’” (0:33:24), to which Romero replies “‘I am not trying to make a political statement. I want to draw our people together to mourn their deaths and to express their outrage.”’ (0:33:31). This portion of dialogue illustrates Romero’s intentions; to unite everyone under one church and to rid the separate churches that further divide society and ostracize the poor, while also recognising and exposing the atrocities committed against them. Within this scene, the bishops
The first scene of the sequence depicts the bishops of El Salvador, including Romero, debating over whether to have one common mass. The second scene of the sequence shows Romero as he walks into a building to find a common girl, with whom he sits and converses. This sequence is crucial to the narrative arc as it conveys the precise moment Romero voices his belief that there should only be one mass for everyone to attend, after the brutal murder of innocent civilians, which reveals to the audience his support for liberation theology. The most obvious cinematic tool used to explicitly disclose the theme of liberation theology within the first scene is diegetic sound in the form of dialogue. While debating over Romero’s proposal of a combined mass, one of the bishops against the idea says “‘a church’s job is to preach the gospel, this is going to be interpreted as a political statement’” (0:33:24), to which Romero replies “‘I am not trying to make a political statement. I want to draw our people together to mourn their deaths and to express their outrage.”’ (0:33:31). This portion of dialogue illustrates Romero’s intentions; to unite everyone under one church and to rid the separate churches that further divide society and ostracize the poor, while also recognising and exposing the atrocities committed against them. Within this scene, the bishops