Sometimes, movies need to be more deeply emotional and have the epic grandeur of a sweeping historical look at Western and Eastern cultures as they clash over religion and basic tenets of faith. Or you could just see “Rogue One” again. Your choice…
But in “Silence”, the passionate work of Martin Scorsese, the story of ancient Japan is brought to life. It is viewed through the eyes of two Portuguese Jesuit priests; Padre Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Padre Garrpe (Adam Driver). In the late 1600’s, the missionary work to Japan had been met with fierce resistance by Japan’s rulers.
Rodrigues and Garrpe plead with the head of the order (Ciarán Hinds) to make a journey to Japan. They have learned that a close mentor and fellow priest named Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) had been tortured to the point of rejecting the One True Faith. They want to travel to Japan and find Ferreira, so they can learn the truth.
They make it to China, and they are paired up with a Japanese fisherman named Kichijiro (Yōsuke Kubozuka). He agrees to lead them back to his homeland to find the “Hidden Christians”. These are converts created by the prior missionaries. But all the priests and Jesuit brothers have been expelled or killed. Father Ferreira also faced torture and perhaps wound up instead becoming a Buddhist.
Rodrigues and Garrpe get separated and both eventually are captured. Rodrigues has an interpreter (Tadanobu Asano) who can speak both Japanese and very good English. He explains that any foreign religion can never take root in Japan, because the outsider cannot see the island kingdom has a culture that will never believe as the Westerners.
So it is a clash of Western ideas, thought and religion against the history of Japanese culture and upbringing. Rodrigues will face losing the very one thing that he took vows to honor and protect, or he will see many of the village Christians tortured and killed because of his stubbornness.
The movie that Scorsese has made is a long, slow exposure to the wearing down of the human soul. The Japanese officials do not hate Rodrigues, Garrpe or Ferreira. They do not hate Christians or those who deliver the Gospel, the Jesuits and the missionaries. But they demand conformity and order. So they root out Christians and put them to death. So it sure seems like they hate them…
Andrew Garfield does a heart-wrenching job as Padre Rodrigues. He thinks himself as a humble and holy man, yet he borders on arrogance because he thinks only he can know the Truth. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson have much smaller roles, but they seem to be sincere in their own beliefs.
The visual imagery is fantastic, with the wide sweeping vistas of a shoreline, or mountainside or a steamed-up area of hot springs. Clouds and fog and haze are in many scenes. This brings to mind some the animated movies of Hayao Miyazaki, or the epic films from Akira Kurosawa. Scorsese can borrow the beautiful look of the movie from the best Japanese directors.
However the storyline is so morbid and predestined that the extended run time hurts the picture. Rodrigues is put into a no-win situation, and there are only two possible outcomes. He will either renounce his Faith, or he will die. But to get to that end, the movie seems to drag on and on. More tortures, more denials, more angry outbursts, more slow panoramic shots that lead to the next one…
So be forewarned. If you do not want to see some nasty things done to people in captivity, you might not like the movie. If you do not want to know in great detail about the difficult spread and quick demise of Christianity in Japan, you might not like the movie. If you do not think that Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson are fine capable dramatic actors, you might not like the movie.
In other words, if you would rather go and see “Rogue One” again, but you see this movie instead, you might suffer in “Silence”.
