Insufferable Unless A Director's Fan With Subject Matter Interest.

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2017)

SILENCE. Viewed on DVD. Cinematography = eight (8) stars; set design = seven (7) stars; sound = seven (7) stars; script = five (5) stars. Director Martin Scorsese's latest faith-based epic re-images Japan's history using a well-known 1966 novel (with the same name) containing fictionalized tales of the persecution of Christian communities and the suppression of Catholicism during the late 1600s in southern Japan (mainly in/around the seaport trading center of Kyushu's Nagasaki). Although banned at the time by the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate, Catholicism both flourished and was suppressed depending on the perspective/conversion-status of regional feudal lords (mercantile interests also likely played a major role, as trade with Portugal, and later Spain, was profitable). Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan to locate their spiritual mentor and, of course, propagate Catholicism. The Jesuits are tormented by what they see (especially the constant Christian coastal crucifixions), but particularly by God's silence to their many pleas for help/guidance (is God absent, not interested or just being cruel?). Scorsese excessively recycles the Christian New Testament (including a riff on the traditional "thirty pieces of silver"), tales of early Western Christians forced to live in catacombs to escape persecution (in Japan it's coastal caves), and (for good measure) some Spanish Inquisition torture techniques. Wars are nasty business, and the Director's photo-play seems intent to vividly show that religious wars are no exception. Scorsese delivers two type of torture here. One is evoked by his often histrionic cast; the other can be experienced by the viewer! The movie is much too long, highly repetitious, and sometimes just plain boring. Periodically, the Director loses his audience by failure to continually engage the viewer (things can become overly abstruse) even when it would seem there are critical plot points to be put across (that's why the fast-forward button exists!). Acting is frequently way over-the-top melodramatic (bordering on being ludicrous) by the two non-Asian leads; not so much for the Asian actors. Cinematography (2.35 : 1, color) is excellent. Sound/silence is fine. Exterior sets look good/authentic. Not a movie meant for everyone. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD