Documentary brings martyr Blessed Stanley Rother to wider Church
(OSV News)—Francisco Bocel remembers the night three assassins forced him to bring them to Father Stanley Rother. Bocel shared how he still carries that traumatic moment with him—one of many being featured—in an upcoming documentary on the life of the slain priest.
American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story, scheduled to be released in theaters nationwide on Aug. 25-27, tells the story of Blessed Stanley Rother through those who knew him—parishioners, catechists and family members—as well as those currently involved in his cause for canonization. Several theaters are carrying the movie in English on Aug. 25-26, and some will show a Spanish-dubbed version of the film on Aug. 27.
Born and raised in the small town of Okarche, Okla., about an hour northwest of Oklahoma City, Rother became a priest of what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa in 1963. Five years later, he joined the diocese’s mission staff in Santiago Atítlan, Guatemala, where he spent the remainder of his life and ministry. By helping improve the lives of the people he served, Father Stanley—or “Padre Apla’s” as the Tz’utujil Maya called him—was considered a threat. In the early morning hours of July 28, 1981, the three gunmen killed him.
His cause was opened in 2007, and in 2016, Pope Francis officially recognized his martyrdom, clearing the way for his beatification the following year. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City built a shrine to Blessed Rother and dedicated it in 2023.
Director Derek Watson from Lampstand Story Company filmed on location in Oklahoma and Guatemala, as well as other sites significant to Blessed Rother’s life. The company had previously produced an award-winning mini-documentary on Blessed Rother, An Ordinary Martyr: The Life and Death of Blessed Stanley Rother, which premiered at the beatification. While in Santiago, Watson experienced walking in the martyred priest’s footsteps not only in the church but in the homes of the parishioners he visited.
“A lot of those interviews were conducted in their homes, on their porches. This is a story that means something to them. They remember the moment [on] July 28 when they woke up to know that their beloved priest and father and friend had been essentially executed; those are hard, dark moments, and they relived them for us,” Watson said. “But it’s also the moments of joy, too. We tend to start off with what life was like in Santiago, what it was like to be in Blessed Stan’s presence, and they speak with such joy.”
Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor Martin Sheen narrates the documentary. The acclaimed Catholic actor read The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run—the official biography of Blessed Rother by cause promoter María Ruíz Scaperlanda—and felt drawn to the story, Scaperlanda said.
“I have been very touched by his generous spirit in wanting to do something that he knew would enrich the faith of a person,” said Scaperlanda, who also serves as an executive producer for the film. “The idea that a person living in Malibu who is clearly a high-ranking actor that this is something that matters to him because he fell in love with this farmer from Oklahoma and sees him as a model that he can emulate, that’s all very moving to me.”
When Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City is asked in the documentary what it would take for Blessed Rother to be canonized, he replies simply with, “It will take a miracle.”
Expanding on that, the archbishop—who also serves as executive producer—told OSV News that he doesn’t mean that as an impossibility; rather, it’s a trust and hope for God’s glory to be manifested through miracles due to Blessed Rother’s intercession.
“I offer that as a real possibility and an encouragement to seek his intercession. We have been receiving for years reports of favors due to the intercession of Blessed Stanley Rother, and it is one of the principal reasons that I really was behind this project. I want more people to learn about his life,” Archbishop Coakley said.
“We need to get not just his name out there but his reputation for holiness and heroic virtue and sanctity before the people of God,” he said. “I think this film will be a good way to introduce more people to his life and experience the attractiveness of this holy priest and seek his intercession.”
(For Aug. 25-27 showtimes of the movie around area theaters, go to fathomentertainment.com/releases.) †