Official Selection Panorama
The Way of a Warrior (Der Pfad des Kriegers)
‘Belief in the revolution, which is the same as belief in the kingdom, or better still, belief in the kingdom of God, is the only true path.’ In 1982 Michael N., a 20-year-old trainee priest from South Tyrol, left Europe to become a missionary in Bolivia, devoting his life to helping the poorest. Deeply shaken by the situation he found and fascinated by the liberation theology proclaimed by the Jesuits, who were making great efforts to promote social change in South America, he decided to join the order. The enthusiastic Catholic stayed in Bolivia for 8 years, left the novitiate and, together with other students, set up the revolutionary group Guerrilla-Frente Liberación Nacional. Later, as the head of a suicide squad, he kidnapped the president of Coca-Cola Bolivia. The kidnapping lasted several months until Michael was finally killed in a shootout with Bolivian special forces. In contrast with today’s tragic attacks carried out by mostly Muslim suicide bombers seeking martyrdom in a war of religions, the film tells the story of the Christian warrior Michael.