God Is Dead . Let Us Pray That Scorsese's Talent Isn't

Rating: 5/10 (27 January 2017)

Martin Scorsese ? I do remember being asked about religion in a University film class and replying that as far as I'm concerned Martin Scorsese is God . He is in my humble opinion the greatest living film maker in the world today and has been for several decades . It is noticeable that since the turn of the century he has tried a little bit too hard to wow the Oscar academy and considering the big name award ceremonies have effectively ignored SILENCE I did wonder if Scorsese might have shot himself in the foot by making an all too obvious Oscar bait type movie ?
The simple , bitter truth is that SILENCE hasn't been snubbed due to Oscar politics but simply because it's not a good film at all . First up it's rather plodding and disjointed movie featuring two protagonists travelling from 16th Century Europe to Japan to find a former mentor and spread the Catholic faith . At no point in the movie was I aware of any time frame . The two priests find themselves established in Japan with Catholic converts but all this seems unnatural from a credibility point of view . There's narration filling in the gaps but this use of voice over is obvious and clumsy exposition
There's also a problem with the acting . Garfield and Driver make for two uncharismatic leads and they're not good enough to carry this mediocre , disappointing film but the supporting Oriental cast are even worse . I noticed this was another serious problem with Scorsese's KUNDUN where a non English speaking amateur cast struggled and failed to bring life to English dialogue
The fundamental problem though is the obvious elephant in the room - religious faith . One wonders if Scorsese is having a test of faith within his own head . The Lord works in mysterious ways . So mysterious in fact that it could be there is no God and our prayers will be met be silence ? It's often impossible to listen to the voice over without thinking Scorsese is having a meta-fictional conversation with himself . Marty if you're reading this every true fan of cinema has total faith in you and we want to see you come out compelling films with existentialism mixed with redemption that even cynical hardcore atheists will enjoy .