Another masterpiece by Martin Scorsese

Rating: 9/10 (19 September 2017)

In 1988 the film directed by Martin Scorsese, titled The last temptation of Christ, was known as a quite scandalous movie due to the outrage among Christian communities. Almost thirty years have passed since then and Martin Scorsese made another religion-related film which focuses on faith as well. A Japanese novel called Silence was written by Shusaku Endo in 1969 and has the same title as the adaption. Silence was nominated for one Oscar and was first released in the Vatican. The film is set in the seventeenth century in Japan where two Jesuit priests are attempting to find their mentor who is rumored to have committed apostasy. The mission however is quite dangerous since Japanese inquisitors are looking for Christians to slaughter or to force them to refuse their faith. Rodrigues, one of the two priests is the main character portrayed by Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge, 99 homes). Although Martin Scorsese has already received probably the best awards that a director can be awarded, he is still able to astonish people. The main questions are quite extraneous for people in the twenty-first century: where is the line between the practice of the faith and idolatry? Is there someone listening to the prayers? Is our conviction more important than rationality? These questions are old-fashioned and long-ago forgotten ones however they perfectly reflect on an age when morality and conviction were important, whilst these values are not precious nowadays. Andrew Garfield(Father Rodrigues) is overwhelmingly authentic and amazing as a loyal believer who has to go through hard physical and mental trials such as not betraying the Lord or being closed away from civilization for long weeks. Moreover, he needs to deal with these circumstances without hearing any answers from his God. This grinding silence is torturing him until he starts to doubt. He compares his passion to the passion of Jesus as he becomes the prisoner of a well-known inquisitor and believes the only way of escaping is martyrdom. The most interesting scene is the meeting with Father Ferreira(Liam Neeson) when he gets the answers and recognizes the fact that he had been seeking them the wrong way. The main reason what makes this film amazing is the remarkable acting and the great dialogues. Cinematography and sound editing are also remarkable components of this great masterpiece. I would recommend this movie for those who appreciate slowly evolving films and for those who like Martin Scorsese's movies.