A history lesson

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2017)

I just watched today at Netflix a great masterpiece, and the best part of the movie is not the acting, the direction, the themes but the story itself. We follow the paths of two very determined Jesuits who are living in Macau-China, and they volunteer to investigate the disappearing of their former teacher and mentor Father Ferreira in Japan.
There are rumors that he abandon his religion, and the two young priests want to see with their own eyes whether its is true or not. Japan is a changed country in the late 17th century, and now being a Christian is considered illegal, and whoever is accused of being Christian is punished by prolonged torture followed by slow and painful death (like crucifixion, drowning, burning, etc).
We get the sense that their mission is doomed, but what surprises us and bring us some pleasant moments in this movie, is the positive reception the priests receive from impoverished peasants and fishermen, who lived a life of eternal oppression, and were ready to sacrifice themselves for their Chirstian faith, since it promised hope for a better life after death, in a country with no hope where a few wealthy barons ruled over the starving masses.
So the movie focus on the lose-lose situation where the priests are stuck. Their heart says that they need to look for the remaining Chirstians, and keep their faith alive, but this is only bringing death, since the Japanese authorities are destroying every single village visited by the pair, and their mind says they should try to save as many lives as possible, since there will be no disciple left if the murdering spree doesn't stop, but in order to do that, they are blackmailed by the authorities who order them to spit on crosses, and stomp on religious images. The idea is make them role models and use their examples to reconvert people back to Buddhism, which is the only religion allowed.
It is a choice between saving lives versus saving souls. They meet their former mentor Father Ferreira, now a Buddhist, who says that it is useless to bring European concepts to Japan, since the power structures would never allow any foreign idea, whether positive or negative, to make an impact in the country.
I watched the movie cheering for the main character all the time, even though we know now trough history that they lost the fight (Japan has virtually no Christians, even today), but for a brief time it seemed like a miracle could happen in the Asian nation