Les disparues

I watched this movie on 1985 ( I was 10 by then). I was profoundly touched by the story, it is based in a true story, it is not a documentary but a story that portrays the vocational process...

There were many politic interests in the background, but that is not the point of this movie, it is the life of Jean Donovan, the struggles she had, her process of conversion, and of self giving life.

If we can see the reality around the world, there are many places were this kind of violence is happening, and also many people is committing themselves to help the people, they become one with them.

I am actually in Nairobi, Kenya as a Missionary and I trying my best to be here for the people, to be one with them, God's will I will fulfill his plan in my life.

I WANT TO BUY THIS EXCELLENT MOVIE!!!

This movie is supposed to be a true story about a post-grad(?) lay missionary who lived and worked in an orphanage in war-torn Nicaragua.

PATRICK CASSIDY played a small role as Jean Donovan's reluctant and fearful boyfriend in this movie.

I saw this movie once and it made such an impression on me. I still search for it periodically on all the free stations like roku and freevee.

I would really like to see it again. Raised Catholic, the murder of nuns particularly hit home. As most pre-teen girls in Catholic school I contemplated becoming a nun, and that feeling continued through my adulthood.

I no longer think of going into the convent. But since my husband is gone and my children are grown I do think of some sort of Godly service.

The fact that I still think of this movie after 35+ yrs, speaks to the power behind this movie. I hope to see it again.

I will never forget when I saw this film on TV. I had just spent the last three summers as a missionary.I spent one summer in the Phillipines while they were under marshal law and it was normal to see military with M16s on the street. But unlike what the media LOVE to lie about the people loved us and were very happy to have us helping them. Another summer I went to Papua New Guinea . I stayed on a mountain and the people there were also very nice towards us and they loved our blue jeans and would trade you anything for them. I went through a group called Teen Missions. They have thousands of teens do missionary work all around the world. Great organization to work with. I was so moved by this film and it reminded me of why I did spend my summers helping others. I want to get this movie on DVD. If you want to see a film that has meaning than this one is one for you. Acting is not the best but the story makes up for that.

I was shown this movie in class during high school. It struck me then as well- intentioned but rather spineless, and new information released about the 1980 murder of four churchwomen during the ensuing years have only confirmed that impression.

The three nuns and the lay worker were only four of the tens of thousands that ultimately perished during El Salvador's 12-year civil conflict. They were repeatedly raped then murdered by Salvadoran soldiers, and the ensuing evasions and cover-up by both San Salvador and Washington were justified (and continues to be by many) in the name of holding the line against Communism. Evidence collected after the signing of the 1992 peace treaty has revealed that the killing of the women was not a matter of rogue soldiers on a rampage as the two governments long insisted, but was ordered by the Salvadoran military.

However, because the political backdrop is not well-drawn in this film, the viewer is likely to come away with any number of wrong impressions. In fact, an earlier user review of this film states that the women were killed for being Americans. This of course is utterly inaccurate. El Salvador's ruling junta was enjoying massive aid packages, not to mention weapons and military training, from the U.S.

The women were killed because they were associated with the Catholic liberation theology exemplified by Archbishop Oscar Romero (in fact, the lay worker Jean Donovan served as one of his pallbearers). By 1980, the Salvadoran military was increasingly enamoured of the idea that every poor, rural civilian was a potential guerrilla, and should simply be "cleaned up". While most religious activists like Romero and Jean Donovan made it clear that they also condemned violence by left-wing guerrillas, their vocal and material support for civilians caught in the crossfire made them military targets in the eyes of the junta.

"Choices of the Heart" claims to portray actual events, and as such, has certain responsibilities. In shying away from placing the murders within the context of the catastrophic Carter-Reagan policy in El Salvador, the film fails miserably in these responsibilities. The lives of these women cannot be honored unless we are willing to take a hard, honest look at why they died.