The 25-year passion project from one Hollywood’s most revered directors, Martin Scorsese, Silence finally reaches the big screen. Scorsese’s story of a man who fiercely fights to protect his faith in 17th century Japan is a gorgeous epic that is rooted in a solid story despite its bloated length.
Scorsese’s deeply-spiritually story follows a pair of Jesuit priests, Sebastião Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) who discover that their mentor, Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson) was taken hostage by his Japanese captors for spreading Catholicism. Despite dire warnings from their diocese, Rodrigues and Garupe embark on a dual mission of finding Ferreira and meeting the spiritual needs of a desperate flock in need of hope and guidance.
Once on Japanese soil, the towering task becomes evident for both priests as they discover that Japanese authorities have rounded up and tortured the remaining priests, forcing them to renounce their faith or commit apostasy. While the leaders are mentally manipulated, their Japanese followers are tortured in various ways, put to death with their remains burned and scattered to the four winds as a warning to others to distance themselves from Christ.
Eventually, the focus of the film shifts to the bitter and consistent turmoil of Rodrigues as he is separated from his colleague and captured in an act reminiscent of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Not interested in turning Rodrigues into a martyr, he is supplied with a translator (Tadanobu Asano), who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who is equal parts sympathetic and savagely sadistic. Their interactions, while just a portion of this epic tale, serve as the bedrock for his greatest spiritual challenge.
Scorsese planned on making this film as early as 1990 after The Last Temptation of Christ and the two run parallel to each other. The many trials that Rodrigues endures that encourage him to surrender his faith are similar to trials that believers, including Christ, himself, encountered in the Bible. Japanese authorities root out suspected believers by requiring them apostatize by stepping on an image of Christ, and in more extreme measures, even to spit on the cross.
After receiving glowing reviews for his star turn in Mel Gibson’s war drama, Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield gives another strong performance as a man who must decide if his love of Christ outweighs the suffering that is inflicted on so many others, that he may have the power to stop. Despite our initial misgivings, Driver also acquits himself well as a mentally-tortured servant of God who is struggling mightily with balancing the suffering he witnesses with the many souls he encounters on his quest.
In a career that has spanned over forty years, Scorsese’s place in the film pantheon has been solidified. He is a master storyteller and packs so much emotion and attention-to-detail in this story that will provide believers with empirical evidence of the challenge walking in faith. Despite its obvious charm for the faith-based community, its length probably will leave audiences imploring the iconic filmmaker to get to the point.
Several decades ago, Mother Teresa claimed that she lived the final period of her life in “spiritual winter,” unable to hear God’s voice. Garfield’s Rodrigues struggles with the same concerns in Scorsese’s epic drama before he discovers a loving void in God’s ‘Silence.” Unfortunately for general audiences, this 161-minute epic has far too much of it to generate either strong awards interest or box-office numbers to justify its lofty goals.
Grade: B-