Powerful, meditative religious epic on struggles with faith and persecution by the master Scorcese

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2017)

Silence is an incredibly well made film about the struggles of early Japanese Christians in the 1600s against religious persecution.
Martin Scorcese directs a near masterpiece of a film, beautifully shot, with powerful scenes and good all- around acting. His depiction of 17th century Japan is absolutely stunning, and the story is easy to follow despite the clashing of languages.
Gar field and Driver are sent from Portugal to find Father Fierera, who is feared to have renounced his faith among the persecuted Christians. What they discover is the hostility towards Japanese Christians is violent and intolerant.
It's a story of the struggle of faith and how far would you go to remain true to your faith and beliefs. In the end, the answer might not be what you would expect. How the inner belief differs from the outward profession is brought into discussion as the consequences of nonconformity to cultural absolutes enforced by the empire's oppression of foreign religious sects may undermine their cause.
A well-made movie on many fronts, Silence is unique and comes off like a spiritual, exploratory epic and a work of art with much more depth and insight than most movies this year. It seems like a movie that could have been shot in the 80s as it has an older feel and ambiance to its staging, pacing, cinematography, and characters.
While the movie is long, it is mostly engaging, and although the pacing is slower, it still maintains your interest in this reflective, introspective epic.
8/10