Missionary Position

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2017)

This was why it was so important to know back then at how dangerous about pushing someone else's religion around. Although each priest had a benign duty to enlighten those who have not once heard about god or paradise, they should have taken great care of how they should spread the word. For over fifty thousand years the Japanese people lived in relative harmony albeit from the constant warring each noble house had made plunging the common folk in between their squabbles. Yet even through such tumultuous times every citizen lived in peace without many wants or needs.
Then comes the obvious outsider who without permission steps foot onto Japanese soil spreading the gospel to further agendas of two factions. One is the Vatican, and the other is Christian faith. Between those two entities, wars, and other violent outcomes have created gaps for such innocent, and confused individuals. It would be like walking into an uncharted tribal village who has had no contact with the outside world, and begin to spread diseases in the first sixty seconds. You cannot change a public opinion with just religion alone. Many Japanese people suffered needlessly for the simple reason that Christians thought they were the ultimate glory.
I do not doubt their faith per-say but pushing something that has not been deemed viable for such a wonderful people was very dangerous. The idea that those who lived, and breathed in the Buddha's realm to suddenly drop it all, and give themselves to another's teachings is comparing it to learning Quantum Physics overnight. It should be by choice only. Plus the priests should have gained a public audience with the Shogun first rather than going behind their backs preaching the gospel to wary, and often frightened people who only wanted to live in peace. This is why religion has so many flaws on so many levels. How do you get someone to listen?... preach. If they do not convert? They become a cancer in the eyes of the church.
Since the crusades the ideology about religion has been lost. There has been no clear resolution as to who is right, and who is wrong. Nobody is wrong. Yet nobody is right either. I found this film rather daunting at how it explains of what the priests went through, and why it was so necessary to let the audience know of their downfalls because of pride in their beliefs. Andrew Garfield played an excellent Jesuit who is bound to the faith but becomes weary of why is sanity was slowly losing to the abyss. The questioning of one's self through a test or life changing event showed at how ridiculous it all was in the end. Not only did the local magistrate deem his holy beliefs as useless but at the same time showed padre Rodriguez that not all men were the same, and rightly so.
The aspects of religious convictions are often balanced on a razor's edge. What the magistrate was saying was that he believes in a divine being, it's just not the same as the padre's beliefs. Both could live together as long as both did not bind any person to just one faith. Otherwise Japan would have plunged deep into a war where there would be no return. It is a delicate subject, which has no winners or losers. It just has a philosophical ribbon attached to it that could break with only one idea. I liked this film with such gritty actors, and scenery to allow the audience to appreciate at how blistering it was to live day by day.
That and giving us a taste at how unsympathetic the magistrate was along with his posse of samurai crusaders who only wanted to stop the needless interference from outsiders who trespassed onto Japanese soil. Such prideful beings were given a chance to redeem themselves in the face of tyranny but in the end met a demise for which no one would ever remember them for, except those who feel that spreading religion is still a valid nuisance. I give it nine out of ten stars for the beautiful landscape shots, and ocean scenes. Added in are the shots of mountains, rustic villages, and wonderfully choreographed sequences with the noble houses. I recommend this for religious fans, and for those who love old world style Samurai as I do.