Beautiful and exhausting

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2017)

Martin Scorsese's latest film can be included in his most personal works, in his impenitent quest for the truth of faith, the purest and universal religious belief, through the tortuous and biblical path followed by his main protagonist, Father Rodrigues (played by a magnificent Andrew Garfield). The story of two Portuguese Jesuits who travel to Japan in the seventeenth century in search of their mentor, is narrated brilliantly by Mr. Scorsese, although his style is closer to the leisurely pace of "The Age of Innocence" than to the nervous rhythm characteristic of his main filmography. However, this does not imply the loss of a palpable tension from the first moments of the film when the character played by Ciarán Hinds warns the two young Jesuits of what they are going to suffer and suffer in their search for the father Ferreira. We can not fail to mention the proximity of this story to the religious concerns that were manifested in another very important work of Scorsese, "The Last Temptation of Christ." And in the infinite and unbearable search for religious faith, the human being ends up being, in the last analysis, a common human, with the doubts and weaknesses that we have along the way towards the clarity of the most mundane things. This is one of the best works done by Martin Scorsese, and almost without hesitation, we are in front of his more personal journey towards the hells of humanity. The best: the set of actors (particularly Andrew Garfield and Issey Ogata), and the monumental photography by Rodrigo Prieto. The worst: the film can be interpreted as a lesson in Christianity when it tries to show us the reaction of humanity within a religious context.