Silence is Well Manufactured but Lacks a Sympathetic Hero or a Decent Message

Rating: 5/10 (4 April 2017)

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* A letter has gotten back to Father Valignano (Ciaran Hinds) at his church in Portugal. The year is 1637 and it is regarding the whereabouts of famed Jesuit Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson). He had been sent to Japan to spread the gospel but he had to witness the followers of Christianity being tortured by the leaders of Feudal Japan. They will not allow their citizens to follow any other religion other than Buddhism. Japan wants nothing to do with Christianity or the influence of Europe and is willing to go to great lengths to discourage it. It is rumoured that to avoid torture, Father Ferreira has apostatized and given up on the Roman Catholic faith. His pupils Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garupe (Adam Driver) refuse to believe this. He was their teacher and they insist that this letter is rumour. Valignano insists it is the truth but they arrive at an impasse. Rodrigues and Garupe volunteer to go to Japan to find Ferreira and prove this letter false while spreading the gospel. Valignano reluctantly agrees and points them in the direction of someone who can help smuggle them into Japan.
I may not be gushing over this movie but that doesn't mean I don't respect that its put together by one of the best directors working today. The cinematography is really striking and they really take advantage of the scenery in Taiwan. As much as I had a hard time attaching myself to Father Rodrigues or Father Garupe, it was hard not be at least interested in where they would go next.
I'm sure that actors would fight for the chance to work with Martin so I'm not surprised that this movie attracted some top shelf talent. Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver are both on the rise and both are grabbing top level projects. I thought they both did a fine job, they put their all into this and while I found their characters to by too self righteous to like, it wasn't their fault. Liam Neeson is in the movie far less than I expected him to be but he also does well in the time he's given. Several of the Japanese actors give exemplary performances including: Yôsuke Kubozuka as Kichijiro, Tadanobu Asano as the Interpreter and Issei Ogata as the Inquisitor. The whole cast does a good job and I didn't find a weak performance in the group. Garfield and Driver's accents are a little weird but that didn't limit my enjoyment of the movie.
I also respect this movie for asking the big questions. They really look at both sides of how the Japanese Christians and their Portuguese priests suffer for their faith and how God is seemingly indifferent or "silent" in the face of their pain. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought about these things and it has the makings of a spirited debate about God's role in how humanity operates. By the time you reach the end of the movie though, you don't really end up with a clear answer. I understood what the ending meant but the overall arc of the movie is muddled in a mixed message. Is it trying to make a statement about having faith through tough times? The movie has been called both anti-Christian and reaffirming for Christianity so I don't know if there is an actual consensus on where the movie falls on the debate.
From what I've heard this book is notorious for being difficult to read and I can see why. The problem with this is that the movie seems like one long montage of these poor people dying while those who are responsible for them are just letting them happen. I got why Rodrigues and Garupe felt why they did but their actions left me furious. I found myself largely on Ferreira's side where their collective pride and their stubbornness left me furious. Letting these people suffer for their pride, how is that noble or righteous? Then when Rodrigues really has to face the consequences for his actions, he gets bailed out by a deus ex machina twist in the plot. It felt like a cop out to me and it took any hope of an interesting resolution away from the ending.
This movie just wasn't for me, it wasn't offensively bad but it was far from enjoyable. So much of the movie seems just about the violence and the torture, it was just painful to watch and eventually just annoying. This is a deep story but the message that Scorsese and his crew were trying to get across didn't translate for me. Garfield, Driver and Neeson all perform admirably but I thought they were sunk by their characters and the heavy subject matter. Maybe Silence just wasn't for me but I can't see this being accessible to the mainstream audience. I would recommend against seeing this unless your a huge Scorsese fan or devoutly religious.