The Gospel of Revolution
Directed by François-Xavier DrouetReleasing Sep 3 1h 55mDocumentary
Nuns murdered and buried in a mass grave. Catechism instructors shot in their own homes. An archbishop murdered in his cathedral while performing mass. For decades, Liberation Theology, a grassroots branch of Catholicism that stood with the poor and oppressed, played a powerful and influential role in Latin American revolutionary movements. Its fundamental tenet, Nicaraguan theologian and journalist María López Vigil says, is that God is not neutral, and is on the side of the poor. And because of that, its practitioners were targets. To the US, Liberation Theology was more dangerous than communism. To an increasingly conservative Vatican, it was a movement to be suppressed. Now, decades after the period of revolutionary ferment in Latin America, THE GOSPEL OF REVOLUTION travels through the region, meeting key figures and tracing the history of the Liberation Theology movement. Through powerful archival footage and contemporary interviews, the film shows how these radical Catholics fought injustice alongside peasants, workers, and Indigenous people, refusing to accept poverty and oppression. Liberation Theology stressed structural change and mutual aid, in contrast with today's more self-focused evangelical movements. At a time when evangelical Christianity is on the rise and associated with conservative politics, THE GOSPEL OF REVOLUTION serves as a powerful reminder that it doesn't have to be this way.
