''Choices of the Heart'' is a 1983 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

based on the lives of the American

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

missionaries

Jean Donovan Jean Marie Donovan (April 10, 1953 – December 2, 1980) was an American lay missionary who was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries—Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel—by members of the military of El Salvad ...

Dorothy Kazel Dorothy Kazel, OSU (June 30, 1939 – December 2, 1980), was an American Ursulines, Ursuline religious sister and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador, was beaten, raped, and mur ...

Maura Clarke Maura Clarke, MM (January 13, 1931 – December 2, 1980), was an American Maryknoll Sisters, Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her mu ...

, and

Ita Ford Ita Ford, M.M. (April 23, 1940 – December 2, 1980) was an American Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war refugees. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murde ...

, all of whom were murdered in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

in 1980 during the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

.1984 Humanitas Prize notation on film's IMDB page
/ref>John J. O'Conno

/ref> The story primarily focuses on Donovan, played by

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest-starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ing ...

. The film also depicts the assassination of Salvadoran

Archbishop Oscar Romero In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

, which occurred shortly before the women were killed.

Plot

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 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. 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 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. 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 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 to 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. 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 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.

Background

The film is based on actual events. On December 2, 1980, a few months after the March assassination of Archbishop Romero, the three

religious sisters A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and lab ...

Maura Clark, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel, and the lay Catholic

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Jean Donovan, were raped, tortured, and murdered by a Salvadoran

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...

, possibly funded by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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.InterReligious Task Force on Central America: "Martyrs of Central America & Colombia"
Attempts were made by the Salvadoran and American governments to try to

cover up A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...

the murders.

Production

The production was filmed mostly in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Mike Farrell Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series '' M*A*S*H'' (1975–83). In addition, Farrell was a producer of '' Patch Adams'' (1998) starr ...

plays Robert C. White, then U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to El Salvador, who keeps running into official interference and noncooperation in his investigation concerning the murdered women.

Martin Sheen Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans over six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and ...

appears as Matt Phelan, a

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

priest whom Donovan meets while spending her junior college year in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Cast

Peter Horton Peter Horton (born August 20, 1953) is an American actor and director. He played Professor Gary Shepherd on the television series ''Thirtysomething'' from 1987 until 1991. Early life and education Horton was born in Bellevue, Washington, to a ...

- Doug (Douglas Cable) *

Helen Hunt Helen Elizabeth Hunt (born June 15, 1963) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Hunt rose to fame portraying newlywed Jamie Buchman in the sitcom '' Mad Abou ...

- Cathy * Mary McCusker - Sister

Mari Gorman Mari Gorman (September 1, 1944) is an American actress perhaps best known for her work in television, particularly as a frequent guest star on the 1970s and 1980s sitcom ''Barney Miller'', but she is also known for her theater acting. She has won ...

- Sister

Pamela Bellwood Pamela Bellwood (born Pamela King, 26 June 1951 in New York City) is an American actress known for her role as Claudia Blaisdel Carrington on the 1980s prime time soap opera, ''Dynasty''. Life and career Bellwood became interested in an acting ...

- Sister

* Patrick Cassidy - Patrick *

René Enríquez René Enríquez (November 24, 1933 – March 23, 1990) was a Nicaraguan-born American television actor of the 1970s and 1980s. He is best remembered for his role as Lt. Ray Calletano in the long-running television series ''Hill Street Blues'' (1 ...

- Archbishop Romero *

- Ambassador

Robert E. White Robert Edward White (September 21, 1926 – January 14, 2015) was an American career diplomat who served as US Ambassador to Paraguay (1977–1980) and to El Salvador (1980–1981). He was recalled from El Salvador by incoming US President Ron ...

- Father Phelan *

Demián Bichir Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in '' A Better Life''. Early life Bichir ...

- Armando *

Enrique Lucero Enrique Lucero (October 9, 1920 – May 9, 1989) was a Mexican actor who appeared in over 120 film roles. He was nominated for the Ariel Award for Best Actor for his role in the film '' Canoa: A Shameful Memory'' (1976). Biography Lucero was ...

- Colonel Rojas * Delores Devine - Gwen * George Belanger - Father Rich

References

External links

* *John J. O'Conno
New York Times, December 5 1983: "TV: DRAMA OF CHURCHWOMEN SLAIN IN EL SALVADOR"
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071206202302/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/124457/Choices-of-the-Heart/overview movies.nytimes.com: review summary and movie detailsbr>movies.msn.com: Choices of the Heart: overview, cast, synopsis, and ratingsvideoeta.com: cast verificationhollywood.com: synopsis, cast, and production informationallmovie.com: film information and plot synopsisspout.com: film synopsis and reviewsEntertainment Weekly, February 21 1992: "LADIES-IN-WAITING", Melissa Gilbert listed as "most memorable" for Choices of the Heart
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080828054637/http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/95:0/Martin_Sheen.htm thebiographychannel.co.uk: biography of Martin Sheen {{DEFAULTSORT:Choices Of The Heart 1983 television films 1983 films 1983 drama films Films directed by Joseph Sargent NBC original films Films about activists Films about Catholic nuns Films about the Salvadoran Civil War 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador Cultural depictions of Óscar Romero American drama television films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films