Certainly a long movie, but worth it

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2017)

"Silence" with its largely unanswered questions of faith and and God and religion, it certainly a long movie, but worth seeing. The acting is incredible throughout--the English and Japanese actors both doing a superb job. The story of Portuguese priests in Japan in the 1600s was interesting for me, because I could see both sides. What value did this new religion bring to the ruling class of Japan? They were a culture who followed the beauty and power of nature, and some scenes in the movie, a stunning view of the moon for instance, highlighted this. The movie gets a little slow sometimes but some of the final scenes with Mr. Neeson and Mr. Garfield are some of the most moving and powerful I've ever witnessed. Anyone interested in this movie would do well to read James Clavell's "Shogun", another engrossing novel set in Japan and encompassing the same time period.