The master makes a masterful film!

Rating: 8/10 (3 August 2017)

This is not a film for everyone: it's a slow-paced film with no obvious special effects; a thinking person's film - about religion and what it means to have faith even at the cost of your life, especially of the Christian kind versus following the Buddha's path in 15th century Japan. A film about real characters who once existed, therefore a story based on facts, and history is always well worth reviewing lest we repeat the mistakes of our forefathers.
Having been brought up by an atheist father, who married a non-practising Buddhist Japanese (2nd wife, my step-mother), yet having gone to church for 4 yrs at high school at my English boarding school in the UK in the 70s, and later finding much to resonate within Buddhism in my 30s (I was to become an ardent student for 18 yrs), I found this film of particular interest.
It makes for harrowing viewing when the authorities, bent on enforcing their intolerance of all things Western, including the practice of Christianity, repeatedly route out Japanese Christians from villages - with vigour! Poor peasants with a childlike faith. It's painful to watch them suffer so much! For what? Holding onto an image of a saviour and paradise beyond death, after enduring a difficult life under dominating landlords and regional governors!
A long film at almost 3 hrs, but whilst some viewers found that overly long, I did not. It's a story that needed that length to be told in all its many facets.
Scorsese has done it again! Filmed with respect and dignity; a must-see for the genuine film connoisseur. 8/10