Review of Silence (2017) by Dave M — 15 Jan 2017

Martin Scorsese's historical drama "Silence" (R, 2:41) is set in a place, during a time and in a set of circumstances with which most 21st century westerners are unfamiliar, making it difficult for many Movie Fans to appreciate without a little background: From 1603 to 1867, Japan was ruled by a series of military dictators which held the title of shogun and were all from the Tokugawa clan. Early in the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan opened itself up to trade from Europe, which brought in new weaponry like the musket, and also led to the arrival of Christian missionaries. The shoguns soon began to feel that the spread of Christianity in Japan was a threat to their authority. By 1635, Japan passed a series of Seclusion Laws severely restricting trade and immigration. They also passed laws banning Christianity, which led to a Japanese inquisition to discover, torture and even kill practicing Japanese Christians.

Based on the 1966 novel of the same name written by Japanese Catholic Sh?saku End? (and made into feature films in 1971 and 1996), "Silence" is the story of three Portuguese Jesuit Catholic priests and their experiences in 17th century Japan. When Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a famous missionary to Japan, stops writing and is rumored to have publicly abandoned his faith, or apostatized, two of his students, Sebastião Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) volunteer to go to Japan to learn the truth, find Father Ferreira and, if necessary, save his soul.

Rodrigues and Garupe get a drunken Japanese apostate named Kichijiro (Y?suke Kubozuka) to help them sneak into Japan. The priests are enthusiastically greeted by Japanese peasants who had been earlier converted to Christianity, then driven underground by the Tokugawa shogunate's persecution. The villagers hide and protect the priests and the priests minister to the villagers by hearing their confessions and baptizing them. Word of the priests' presence soon spreads, which leads to increased demand for their services among the populace - and increased danger from the local Nagasaki-area Inquisitor who is also looking for the priests - and is willing to torture and kill in order to find them.

The persecution of Japanese Christians takes a variety of forms as military and government officials try to stamp out the influence of the religion throughout the country. These officials often lay on the ground a stone carving representing Jesus on the cross and demand that accused Christians step on it as a way of denouncing the faith. Those who refuse are subjected to a variety of tortures, often ending in death, making many of them martyrs. As the local governor, Inoue Masashige (Issey Ogata), explains, the Japanese have learned that it's more effective to get priests themselves to apostatize, so the officials use the lives of their own people as leverage to try to get the priests to comply. As the priests pray to God for help and wisdom, they become increasingly distressed that they're met mainly with silence.

"Silence" is an impressive historical epic which suffers from the lack of a clear message. As such movies often do, this one transports Movie Fans to a different time and place where we can learn a lot and be engaged by a little-known story. In this case, the story is true (with the priests based on actual historical figures, but with some details of their lives changed) and the acting is terrific, but the message is muddled. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, all I'll say is that both religious and non-religious Movie Fans will identify with some of the characters, but many will get to the closing credits wondering what the film was really about and what the point of watching it was. Beyond the quality of the filmmaking and the educational value of the movie, when it comes to singing its praises as an entertaining experience, all you'll hear from me is... silence. "C".