Browse Films

Revelations of CIA torture, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and other examples of U.S. military abuse, have a history. A key part of it is revealed in Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins.

Through his extraordinary life and daring actions we learn about Fr. Roy Bourgeois and his struggle to find and reveal the truth about the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), and growing efforts by grassroots activists and Congress to shut it down. PBS "Global Voices" series began re-runs of this documentary in 2009. For feedback from its earlier PBS telecasts go to: http://itvs.org/shows/talkback.php?showID=7242

In the documentary Fr. Roy -- a Vietnam War hero -- meets three men, each from a different Latin American country, who link SOA to torture training. One, a victim of that training, found an SOA teaching manual on torture. The other two were taught torture techniques at SOA. The producer was warned that he will be killed if he reveals the name of one of the trainees or where he was interviewed.

In 1996 the White House Intelligence Oversight Board confirmed the explosive charges revealed in this documentary and the Secretary of Defense at the time declared torture training would never happen again.

Guantanamo and Iraq reflect the different and troubling policies of the Bush era. Under its new name, Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, SOA continues. So does the growing campaign by tens of thousands of college students and others to shut SOA.

Book the filmmaker with this or other of his films by emailing rrprod@aol.com. Robert Richter has appeared with his work at over 50 universities and colleges.

One of the outstanding documentaries of 1997.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

Powerful...recommended for all video collections.
Stephen L. Hupp, Urbana Univ. Lib., OH
Library Journal
full review

A straight ahead, thoughtful expos...sways you with the facts.
San Francisco Examiner

Persuasive.
Boston Globe

Chilling.
Dallas Morning News

More Reviews

AWARDS & SCREENINGS:

• Human Rights Film Festivals: Amsterdam, Brussels, Seoul, Guatemala, Buenos Aires, New York.
• Central Florida (1st Prize)
• Columbus (Chris Bronze)
• Hot Springs Documentary Festival
• Havana (Coral Award)
• Leipzig
• Bangkok
• CINE Golden Eagle
• PBS "Global Voices" 2009 series

Resource Web Sites

www.SOAW.org