Religion laid bare

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2017)

A pair of Portuguese Catholic priests go to Japan to determine the fate of their former mentor. Instead they mostly administer to a small villages of faithful Japanese Christians. This they must do in secret as the Japanese authorities have cracked down hard (torturing and killing) on those found to be practising in an effort to stamp out the 'foreign cancer'. Thus sets the scene for Andrew Garfield's Padre's faith to be severely tested. Does he apostatise (even just symbolically) in order to save the lives of others.
For me as someone who has been an atheist since the age of 15 this film shows up the problems of most Religions: the false ideas of God as person and a perfect afterlife, thus making us believe that this worldly existence is just a test run, something to be tolerated. The Japanese thought this dangerous to society. Their ruthless crackdown on those caught practising was, in their minds, a way of protecting Japanese society.
Others will see any refusal to step on the image of Christ as a sign of great faith. But what is great faith in this life when all it brings is misery. They are sold the lie of a great paradise in the next life, all you have to do is believe. This worldly reality becomes unimportant as a result. The Japanese have always been keenly aware of this worldly reality as being the ultimate reality and therefore could not tolerate an idea that would undermine it.
The silence referred to in the title was the response given when the Padre needed guidance from his God. Is he just talking to himself? How does he know God is listening, how can be be real if he never talks back? He just needs to have faith that he is. He hopes and hopes and hopes. But always silence.
Is it a good thing to cling so desperately to an idea, any idea? Especially one based solely on faith.
The film is good at illustrating the problems with this position and what it can lead to - the peasants blindly accepting death and torture for a better life in paradise. It also shows the intolerance on the other side and what it can lead to - killing people for false beliefs.
The silence is what we cant tolerate. We make up a sky god to fill the silence. We'll do anything to fill the silence. Because we cant stand to face the reality of our nothingness and meaninglessness.
The film is good because it asks these questions but it doesn't go so far as to openly condemn these false beliefs. It lets them speak for themselves, which to me was their folly but it also has sympathy for those that cling to them.