Christian perspective only

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2016)

I've always greatly admired Martin Scorcese's films, and I've seen several of them a number of times. I know his faith is dear to him and I understand and respect that. I do, however, feel that "Silence" did not give us a balanced look at the people of Japan at that time. I felt as though there was an tacit acceptance expected of the audience; the Jesuit characters and their followers were on the "right" side and the Japanese ignorant and primitive for not accepting the Christian point of view. The most balanced film I've seen regarding Jesuits and the introduction of Christianity to a native people was "The Mission", directed by Roland Joffre from 1986. The priests in both films were driven by the noblest of intentions, but in their world view they had the true faith, and that unfortunately drove them to impose their religion on others...a mistake that still leads us to conflict and too often, wars.