Jeebus that was long!

Rating: 4/10 (21 May 2017)

Maybe I'm the wrong target audience for this film (atheist). I love a good drama (even if it's slow-paced) and have enjoyed most of Scorsese's works (including "Last Temptation"), and religious topics don't put me off (unless the film stars Kirk Cameron!) but this movie just lost me. I'm not sure if we were supposed to empathize with the missionaries and admire their faith, or to accept the futility of forcing a belief on a foreign culture. All the pain and suffering in this film basically reinforced my belief that religion does nothing but divide humanity (even the Buddhists were blood-thirsty in this!) and create the illusion that life on Earth is a mere pit-stop on the way someplace better. On the plus side, I enjoyed all of the main Japanese actors, especially the translator and the main, somewhat goofy Samurai(?). It was probably only me, but I felt the first Japanese guy (drunk) was hilarious in the way he kept flip-flopping and asking for confession. It was like a running gag. Also, wouldn't the film have been better if Garfield and Driver had had their roles reversed? I feel Driver would have brought more gravitas to the main role, and Garfield would have been better as the supporting character.