Starts some way, ends in a completely different one, yet you may not realize it

Rating: 7/10 (25 February 2017)

So the movie was okay, it had some good moments, scenes of tension and some interesting dialogue, which are the reasons I didn't give it a lower score
My two main problems with this movie are, first, the laziness of their 'investigation'. You see, they know Father Ferreira is somewhere in Japan. 'Somewhere' being the keyword here, as in, they have absolutely no idea exactly where he is.
Here is when they should have literally gone from village to village, even cities, sneaking around them obviously, in search for clues that may, hopefully, lead them to the presumably fallen priest
Time consuming? Distressing? Perilous? Well, yeah! But that's what they signed up for. And that would be real investigation, where they could die without ever finding even the faintest trace of Ferreira
Instead, they go to the closest village to the coast they reach (What coast? Where? Did they even know?) And, then, they just stay there, for the first quarter of the movie. Like, why? Then they go to the second closest village to the coast they reached, where one of the villagers, extremely fortunate for father Rodrigues, heard about Ferreira, that he knew him at least, because he cannot tell Rodrigues where Ferreira actually is, making the whole scene rather pointless
Then Rodrigues is captured and taken to a place where they do him the favor of BRINGING Ferreira right to him. Ending their 'diligent investigation' that could put Sherlock Holmes to shame...
That whole aspect of the movie was just lazy, get past the 'brutality of the tortures' that may make you think the movie is powerful and serious, and you'll see the weak script, at least on this note
Which brings me to the second reason why I dislike the movie You see, like after ten minutes in Japan, the two fathers simply forgot what their mission was. By the time the movie ends, if you think about it, you'll realize you just watched an ending to a different movie than the one you initially thought you were watching
Let's be clear, their mission was not to convince the inquisitor to turn catholic, their mission was not to celebrate clandestine masses, their mission was not to tell captives whether to die defending their beliefs or not. And yet, ten minutes into the island and those are the (only) events that start unfolding.
It even has a few debates(why?) between the fathers and some villagers, that guard that beheads a prisoner, and the inquisitor. How they shouldn't have cut the roots(?) for Catholicism to spread, how Japan is to blame because it is a swamp(?) where nothing grows, etc, etc. So what? Why should they care? They shouldn't have wasted their breath. They weren't there to impose their views, or to try to convert them.
They were there to GET Ferreira!
It was made clear since the beginning that if they found Ferreira alive, and that he was indeed an apostate, that they would absolve him and return to Portugal, the end
And yet... Rodrigues finds Ferreira, sees he's an apostate, and what happens? they engage in another religious debate. Seriously, why? You found him, father, the mission is over, it was a failure, but it's over. Time to go home, well, you can't, but it should be time to go home.
So Rodrigues also becomes an apostate, after acknowledging that there is no point in trying to spread Catholicism in a swamp country like Japan, deeming it'd be better to live as a seemingly ordinary Japanese while, in complete silence, still be a devout Christian
Well, at least you tried ex-father Rodrigues and you... Hey! Wait a second! That was never the objective! Apostate Rodrigues never set out to get the Japanese to turn!
It just hit me! The movie began some way but ended in a completely different one!