Sarah Masters reviews
They Killed Sister Dorothy
More than three years ago, a Catholic nun dedicated to preservation of the Amazon rain forests was murdered for her efforts. Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, working tirelessly on behalf of a sustainable development program, was shot multiple times.
Sister Dorothy, known as the “Angel of the Amazon,” spent more than three decades working alongside the peasant class of the rainforest to ensure that they would inhabit claimed land and work the land with respect for the environment.
Filmmaker Daniel Junge traveled to Brazil to investigate her murder. Junge quickly realized that the trials of Sister Dorothy’s suspected murderers, a number of loggers and ranchers, could “hold the fate of the Brazilian rainforest itself.”
There is much courtroom drama and tension in this part of the Amazon, where “justice” can be bought. Sister Dorothy is portrayed by trial lawyers on one side of the aisle as a profoundly committed Catholic activist and, on the other side, a spy sent by the U.S. to foment rebellion among Brazilian peasants.
The camera gives equal time to the poor whom Sister Dorothy served and to the wealthy ranchers who opposed her project, as well as to efforts to bring her killers to the witness stand. The director’s in-depth interviews with individuals on both sides of land rights issues involving the rainforest, and Junge’s extensive courtroom footage, highlight the fragility of justice in a third-world country.
They Killed Sister Dorothy raises important questions about how best to serve the poor, and to remain an effective environmental steward in an unstable world.
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Completed: 2008
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Director: Daniel Junge
Producer: Henry Ansbacher and Nigel Noble
They Killed Sister Dorothy is on the film festival circuit and not yet available for purchase. Keep on the lookout for upcoming home video sales of the film.
Sarah Masters is the Managing Director of the Hartley Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to production, cultivation, support and distribution of the best documentaries on world religions and spirituality.
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