To apostate

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2017)

Martin Scorsese has made a personal epic which he has wanted to make for years. Silence is an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's 1966 historical novel. The trouble is the older Scorsese is not in the peak of his filmmaking skills and this film is uneven even muddled.
Despite some nice photography of Taiwan standing in for feudal Japan, I hesitate to even call it a visual epic, the script is laborious which no amount of praise for the film by Pope Francis can make you overlook it.
Jesuits priests brought Christianity to parts of Japan in the mid 16th century but it soon became unwelcome. It seems the Japanese became wary of the ulterior motives of some of these missionaries. In the 1630s, Christianity was banned and those who practised the religion were persecuted.
Silence follows two Jesuit priests, Sebastian Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francesco Garrpe (Adam Driver) who make a treacherous journey to Japan to find out what happened to their mentor, Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who is believed to have renounced his faith. The two priests regard the claims as a slander and want to find out for themselves.
When they arrive they discover enclaves of hidden Christians practising their faith in secret and then witness the torture and persecution of the peasants when they are caught that includes being beheaded, drowned, burnt alive and crucified. It is only now they realise the true plight and dangers that Christians in Japan face.
Rodrigues is caught and his inquisitor wants to make an example of him like they did with his mentor. He is taunted to publicly renounce his faith in order to save the lives of others or let them die horrifically and enter martyrdom. Rodrigues gets visions of Jesus and wonders about the virtues of being flexible in his beliefs.
The question the film repeatedly asks is whether Christianity can flourish in a swamp. Well Christianity did spread in south and central America, but there the Jesuits and others forcibly converted people and killed or enslaved those who refused. The casting of Liam Neeson just invites people to recall the more superior film, The Mission.