I’m sure when Martin Scorcese said he wanted to make a movie, Skydance Productions was ECSTATIC. Producing a film for one of the greatest living directors? Amazing!! What do you want to film Marty? “A heady tale about two Catholic priests trying to preach Christianity in feudal Japan.” There must have been either been immediate laughter from the execs, or Silence. Scorcese’s newest movie is the equivalent of exercising personal demons in a movie; as such, the passion exists on screen, but the finished product will mean more to the creator than the audience.
Fathers Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) worship devoutly in Portugal, spreading Christianity wherever they go. They learned from a Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who departed to Japan to spread the gospel years ago. Out of the blue, they are stunned to hear that Ferreira has denounced his faith, taken a wife, and assimilated into Japanese culture. The two young priests trek to Japan to discover the truth to these claims about their mentor; however, Japanese culture at the time was openly torturing Christians, forcing Rodrigues and Garrpe to come to terms with how strong they are in their Christian beliefs.
Martin Scorcese has been trying to get Silence made for a long time. Passion projects usually are made extremely well but have a tough time resonating with a big audience because the creator is more reluctant to listen to people and compromise their feelings. Silence falls into these same pitfalls. The first hour of Silence is so lethargically paced I nearly fell asleep a few times. I get the point of that hour; Scorcese is trying to establish feudal Japan’s culture and craving for Christianity, plus how the priests feed upon this hunger to feed themselves spiritually. However, at least 20 minutes of this time could have been cut to get to the religious questioning. The questioning is fine, however, this priest secretly longs for martyrdom, so we don’t every really feel frightened for him or connect, except when his faith is shaken. In addition, countless faceless Japanese face real persecution for their beliefs – not just execution, but severe physical and psychological torture as well – and we spend most of our time focusing on how this affects the priest. I think Scorcese under normal circumstances would see the steadfast belief of the Japanese as a more interesting story, but he’s dealing with religious doubts he has to get off his chest. Silence does get better when the religious doubts and moral quandaries are explored by the story, but during this time we only get there by watching these brave poor people die for what they believe in so the priest can have a moral quandary. I find Silence’s message confusing in the end, therefore deadening the impact I felt watching it.
However, everyone’s at the top of their game and trying their hardest for good old Marty. The director himself shot this movie beautifully, Japan looks different at all times: eerie, rigid, elegiac, profound, to name just a few. There are multiple fog/cloud shots that are brilliantly staged to drive tension when the screenplay may have had little. This is Andrew Garfield’s toughest role to date, and for the most part he’s up to the task. Garfield is great when summoning inner strength but channeling quiet rage (like in the Social Network), and Silence is about Rodrigues’s battle with his beliefs for almost 3 hours. Garfield sells the priests civil war within himself, but never made me feel like he was a weak man against powerful opposition, passionately defending what he believes in because of what it has done for him. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson are very good in supporting roles on opposite ends of the spectrum: Driver sells the religious fervor for Christianity well and Neeson exudes gravitas with Father Ferreira’s educational and spiritual awakening. For the pro-Japanese side, Tadanobu Asano is great as Rodrigues’s interpreter and Issei Ogata is charismatic as the old samurai explaining his horrific tactics, like a Japanese version of Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.
Silence will probably just be a blip on Martin Scorcese’s sterling resume. However, the director will probably say this film gives him the most satisfaction and catharsis, regardless of how well it is received by people. As someone who has gone through similar internal debates like Father Rodrigues, I understand where Scorcese is coming from, and if this helps him move on and make another bloody modern Shakespearean tragedy, then you’ll get no complaints from me.