Silence
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson
Duration: 161 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

Director Martin Scorsese returns to the profound themes of religion and faith so important to him, following his adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ controversial novel The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, which portrayed Jesus Christ’s struggles with doubt, fear and temptation.

These are also the themes that consume the protagonists in Silence, with specific weight on the age-old question: why is God so silent in the face of so much suffering on Earth?

It is 1640 and Fr Sebastian Rodrigues and fellow Jesuit missionary Fr Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) have left the safety of their university to travel to Japan in search of their teacher and mentor Father Christavao Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who went missing some years ago amid rumours he converted to Buddhism.

On arrival in Japan, the two young priests encounter a number of villagers who practise Christianity in secret, in fear of the brutal and often fatal repercussions doled out by feudal lords and the ruling Samurai who are determined to stamp out Christianity at all costs. As their search becomes seemingly impossible and their mission is discovered, the two companions get separated and Fr Rodrigues’s faith is tested to almost inhumane limits.

Silence is a quiet, yet powerful, examination of the immoveable power of faith in the face of unstoppable brutality and the unmeasurable grief and anger in the face of God’s ostensible ignorance of the suffering of the faithful. Scorsese’s film lays bare all these themes – illustrating via a powerful script he wrote with long-time collaborator Jay Cocks – the complexities of faith, the frailties of mankind and the harsh and often incomprehensible behaviour of human beings towards one another.

Scorcese invites the viewer to carry out their own journey as the film unfolds

The film is based on Japanese author Shusaku Endo’s Chinmoku (Silence), published in 1966. Scorsese admits that the first time he read the book it seemed to speak to him personally.

The director was raised in a strong Catholic family and he claims that he still lives with the spirituality of Roman Catholicism he was immersed in as a child, the spirituality that has to do with faith. He says that, while reading the book, he was astonished to discover it confronted the very deep and profound issues about Christianity that he himself still copes with constantly.

The depth of feeling Scorsese had for the material perme-ates throughout the film, as we follow Fr Rodrigues’s challenging odyssey. Ultimately, however, Scorsese offers no clear answers. He cannot in the face of such a daunting subject, yet he invites the viewer to carry out their own journey as the film unfolds. It must be said that even those who are not particularly religious ought to be moved by the beautiful spirituality underlying the story.

If Garfield has been associated with ‘lighter’ fare because of his Spider Man gig, any doubts about his credentials as an actor should dissolve following his committed, nuanced and expressive performance. His young face, covered by an unruly mop of hair and beard, belies the inner strength this young priest possesses – physical, emotional and mental – as he witnesses with unmitigated horror the brutality carried out to force him to apostatise.

Driver has the smaller, yet still effective role of the two; while Neeson embodies a quiet nobility as the priest who turned his back on the Church.

As for the Japanese protagonists, it could have been easy to portray them as one-dimensional villains and, although Scorsese pulls no punches in his depiction of the persecution and torture the Japanese rulers inflict upon the faithful, (we see villagers subjected to drowning, while crucified or hanging upside down over a hole and bleeding to death), the director gives them a clear voice.

Issey Ogata as the elderly Inquisitor and Tadanobu Asano, as the interpreter assigned to Fr Rodrigues, inject much depth and nuance into their roles as they present their side of the religious and spiritual argument with wisdom and intellect. This is, at times, in stark contrast to their ruthless actions. However, their faith in their nation’s cultural history and background is as strong as Fr Rodrigues’s Christianity. Yoshi Oida as Ichizo, a village elder of strong Christian faith, is particularly inspiring.

The only slightly dud note is Yosuke Kubozuka as Kichijiro, a man of fickle faith who acts as a guide to the priests. There is a point where his vacillation from ally to betrayer becomes a little implausible.

Scorsese envelopes his story in a lush setting. The stunning cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto and production design by Dante Ferretti also serve to illustrate the contrast between things of ravishing beauty and dark ugliness. Silence itself is a vital part of the whole... Scorsese injecting many moments of it to give the viewer a chance to ponder it all.