An extraordinary Scorsese film on faith and culture

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2017)

Martin Scorsese has made a powerful film about the power of faith and the struggle between conflicting cultures. This epic story tells of the journey of two priests who come to Japan to find their lost teacher. Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garupe (Adam Driver) are the two young priests that venture to hostel Japan. They have received news that their teacher Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) has apostatized against the Christian faith. They do not believe the rumors and determine that they will travel to Japan to retrieve their father and discover the truth while spreading the gospel.
The brutal torture of Japanese Christians is revealed early and continues throughout the film making this a movie that could be difficult to watch for some. The Inquisitor (Issei Ogata) persecutes the faithful with elaborate tactics that conspire to bring out the worst in humans. They provide religious tests like stepping on an image of Christ or spitting on a cross to weed out the Christians. They put the citizens to death making the priests doubt their mission and put out a bounty for the priests' capture.
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