Is it better to apostatize if it can save lives, or is it better to become a martyr for one's faith?

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2020)

The ultimate question in the movie Silence becomes that of the meaning of life: Is life here on earth the most important, or is the "life" in heaven/paradise the most important?
And the ultimate consequence is then: Is it right to deny one's god (apostatize) if one knows that it can save people from being killed? Or is it right to hold on to one's religion because of the belief that people will enter into paradise even though they will be killed (the belief in martyrdom)?
In the movie father Ferreira explains that the Japanese view is that the Church (Christianity) is not desirable as it can never produce anything good ("take root") in the Japanese society. Ferreira probably means that Christianity produces no life-affirming and strengthening ideology for the life here on earth. Instead the Christian ideology acknowledge death (but Christianity calls it "life" in heaven/paradise) and weakness (the Christian concept of sacrifice and self-denial).
The Japanese religion (mindset) is more focused on humanity than on divinity according to the film, which means that Christianity's focus on heavenly salvation never works in Japan. In traditional Japanese religion the sun is seen as the god-son that arises every morning to give life to the earth, which makes Christianity's teaching about a god-son who gives his believers life in heaven/paradise incomprehensible.
According to father Ferreira, the Japanese Christians have mixed the Christian teachings of God's Son with those of the Japanese religion, and thus do not believe in the same Jesus Christ as Western Christians do. Thus, the "martyrdom" of the Japanese Christians becomes unnecessary as they die for a different belief than the "genuine" Christianity. Thus, according to Ferreira, it is better to apostatize than to be tormented and killed unnecessarily for a misinterpreted religion.
I think that this is the only thing in the movie's theological reasoning that is vague, because how can Ferreira know that all Japanese Christians have misinterpreted the Christian teachings of the god-son? It somehow seems that this is his own excuse to say that the Christian mission in Japan is unnecessary. Or perhaps he says this to justify his own apostasy (and saving his own life). Or perhaps he is right because he has been in Japan for as long as he himself says, and therefore knows what he's talking about.
The movie creates a lot of interesting questions about religion and about the meaning of life. The settings are good and the acting is aswell, and if you're interested in history and religion you will like this movie.