Silence

In the Seventeenth Century, in Portugal, the Portuguese Jesuit priests Sebastião Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe[ (Adam Driver) ask permission to Father Alessandro Valignano (Ciarán Hinds) to travel to Japan to investigate the rumors that their mentor Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson) had committed apostasy abandoning his Catholic faith after being tortured by the shogunate. They meet the alcoholic fisherman Kichijiro (Yosuke Kubozuka) that agrees to guide them to Japan. When they arrive at a small village, they learn that the Christians residents live hidden in caves since the Inquisitor kills any villager suspect to be Christian. Along the days, Rodrigues and Garupel propagate Catholicism among the villagers and try to find a lead to Ferreira. But when the Inquisitor arrives in the village with his men, the live of the residents and the priests will change.

"Silence" is a film directed by Martin Scorcese that shows how cruel a man can be. Based on historical facts, "Silence" show the powerful Shogunate defending their religion and culture against the European Catholicism that promises easy paradise to the suffered Japanese workers that has to work lot to pay the taxes and survive. The result is a good, but too long and tiresome film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Silêncio" ("Silence")

Silence is a difficult movie. The movie is set in Japan in the 17th century and deals with the role of Christianity at that time. From a historical point of view, it's quite interesting, especially because I haven't dealt with the subject matter shown before.

The various locations around Japan are really well chosen and staged in a contemporary way. Impressive images are shown as well. The movie also takes the necessary time to let what is shown take effect. As a consequence, the pace is correspondingly slow. On the one hand I find that good, on the other hand I miss the tension highlights. People are persecuted and tortured. This constant fear of being caught is communicated, but as a viewer you don't feel it at any time.

What I liked was the portrayal of Andrew Garfield's inner conflict. He starts to doubt God and he tries to find the right way back to God. But at the same time he doesn't want to show this doubting to the people, because they have it hard enough anyway. This whole process is well portrayed.

My main problem with the movie is that it couldn't catch me. I wasn't able to connect emotionally. It is thought-provoking and has good moments, but overall the movie was very drawn out.

'Silence' is exactly what you would expect from a Martin Scorsese film in that it is well-produced, written and shot with a strong storyline and engaging lead characters. There aren't many films that explore religion and faith as deeply as this one and there's no doubt that it is an intellectual, thought-provoking piece that Scorsese has created. It's also visually stunning - as a piece of filmmaking 'Silence' is difficult to fault.

It is, however, very easy to fault as a piece of entertainment. For all its technical merit, the truth is that this is an overly long, tediously slow and largely dull film that the average viewer will struggle to sit through. The pacing does it no favours and the near three-hour running length is excessive to say the least. It could have been condensed to closer to the two-hour mark without losing much at all from the storyline.

'Silence' is obviously more likely to appeal to those with religious/spiritual beliefs, and they would probably get a lot more out of this film than I did. A well-crafted film, but rather dull and unrewarding for the average viewer.

Far superior to his belly flop Kundun (& less sanctimonius), Silence is a confession by Scorsese that despite working in the trenches of secular hollywood, Scorsese will one day die clutching a tiny crucifix in his palm. A must watch film which will be misunderstood by liberals and misused by conservatives, this is quite possibly Scorsese at his least pretentious.

How does it stack up against his other work? Whilst the Last Temptation was a shallow comic book adaptation of a great novel, this is a more mature rendering of the burden of faith. Is it as good as Goodfellas (still his best) - nope, but it is better than the over processed Casino, or the dead-because-it-should've-been-a-documentary Gangs of New York (which was clunky and sloppy).

Can't say enough about the cast. Excellent work that they should all be looking back with pride on for years to come.

This was Martin Scorsese's passion project. The reason he waited so long was because he didn't feel like he was ready. But when he finally made it, it bombed. Silence is a deconstruction and an examination of faith and spirituality. It's long, patient, quiet, slow. Thus, by the end of the film you will be exhausted. Andrew Garfield gives one his best performances, watching his soul gradually crumble was nothing short of heartbreaking. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson were great as well. Silence is a film not to be played as background noise. It's very hard to watch at points. But if your patient and committed to view it in it's entirety, you'll find something immensely rewarding. Silence is Scorsese's most underrated film, as well as one of the most underrated films of the 21st century.