Silence [Blu-ray] [2017]

The film begins in silence, or near silence: the murmur of waves along a shore, the faint pounding of a distant taiko drum. Music, the standard start of any film, is absent. Instead, birdsong and the chirping of summer insects, crickets and cicadas. Thus virtual silence.Silence is also the spiritual theme of the film, or a quality at its heart. What is silent? Answers to prayers, the voice of God, the empty cosmos. Questions can be raised but answers are not forthcoming. Instead, they have to be imagined. So too the sound of God’s voice, a voice that doesn’t even whisper. Belief is not just a leap of faith, then; it’s a leap of the imagination too. The God whom the Jesuits long to meet either isn’t listening or isn’t there. Either way, he has abandoned them. Or so it seems to them.They have travelled far to spread the holy word, the gospel of Jesus and his disciples. They are Portuguese far from home in places such as India, China, Macao. A mission to Japan is proposed. It will be undertaken by two priests, Sebastiao Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe, both young and idealistic disciples of Cristóvao Ferreira (1580-1650), a Jesuit who came to Japan some years ago but was forced to renounce his faith. Or so the rumour goes. It has reached Lisbon by way of a confiscated Dutch letter now in the hands of Alessandro Valignano, the Father Superior of Rodrigues and Garupe. The young Jesuits are keen to reach Japan to establish the truth of Ferreira’s situation, but Father Valignano strongly advises against it, saying the plan is too dangerous. Persecution against Christians is raging in Japan. The mission would be suicidal.The year is some time in the mid 17th century after the failed Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-38, an uprising of over 40,000 armed peasants, mostly Christians, against the Tokugawa shogunate (and mercenary Protestant Dutch soldiers). After this incident Christianity in Japan was driven underground and the draconian sakoku exclusion laws were promulgated, laws that banned nearly all foreigners (except the secular, trading Dutch) from the country. A flashback to 1633 shows Ferreira in chains. He’s in a mountainous place of volcanic hot springs where Japanese Christian martyrs are being tortured for refusing to renounce their faith. They cry out in pain as the scalding water sears their reddened flesh. Ferreira says in voiceover:“I never knew Japan when it was a country of light. But I have never known it to be as dark as it is now.”Blood flows throughout the land: whippings, crucifixions, beheadings. The Tokugawa shogunate and its lordly daimyo have seen enough of Catholicism, this sinister, pernicious foreign faith. Its fetishes and fanciful delusions have been undermining social and political stability, converts from the peasantry still revolting in some parts of the country. The priests are a malign force that must be extirpated. Those who renounce (apostatise) will be spared, serving as examples for local Christians to follow. Apostasy is carried out through public desecration of holy relics, especially carved images of Christ called fumi-e. Samurai soldiers with swords stand guard while the prisoner, bound at the wrists, is commanded to trample the fumi-e underfoot or spit on a small wooden figure of Christ on the cross. Many refuse, preferring torture and martyrdom to desecration and renunciation. The Jesuits have done their work well, convincing the desperate peasantry that a better life with God awaits them in Paradise compared to the harsh one experienced here on earth. Their sacrifices and suffering are thus undertaken for a greater good.But is it so? Do these Japanese truly understand and worship the god and saviour of Christian teaching? Or do they worship the spiritual power and authority of Portuguese and Spanish priests? By serving God have the Jesuits inadvertently established a cult of clerical worship as conduits to some higher power? Who knows what’s happening in the minds of the Japanese, an isolated people who have developed their own fetishes and practices over the centuries: the worship of ancestors, nature, mythological beings and the Emperor. Can they visualize God? Do they know he personally cares for them? Do they understand sin and why the Saviour died for them? Do they realize Hell is real, as is eternal torment for them there unless they repent and confess their sins? Who can say? They go through the motions of the Christian rituals, mouth the Christian prayers, seem to be devout, but some still worship things Christianity condemns as pagan, irrational, meaningless.In Macao the young priests Rodrigues and Garupe are introduced to Kichijiro, an exiled Japanese fisherman. His ship had been blown off course and he was rescued in Macao. He can speak some Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish (though in the film he speaks English, Japanese and some Latin). He will act as guide and interpreter for the two Jesuits.All three sail to Japan, landing on a remote coast near Hirado and Goto islands in Kyushu. Here they hide out in a mountain hut for some weeks, cautious of discovery. Word among the local Christians spreads, the people overjoyed to know two genuine Jesuit priests are now in their midst. Cautious and silent pilgrimages are made to the hut where the priests bless them and listen to their confessions. Gradually the priestly missionary work expands to nearby villages, though of course it only takes one informer among the flock for them to be exposed. This happens and it is Kichijiro, of all people, who sells them out for a few pieces of silver, just as Judas did long ago to Jesus for the same reward. So the two Jesuits are betrayed by the person they trusted most, their guide and interpreter. Such is the cynical humour of irony.Taken into captivity, Rodrigues and Garupe are separated, and for a while Garupe disappears from the story. The local daimyo, also a Grand Inquisitor named Inoue-sama, learns of the capture of the Jesuits and visits Rodrigues in captivity. Their conversations are philosophical and theological, as Inoue-sama in fact is a lapsed Christian, fully aware of the tenets of the faith. Thus there is little Rodrigues can persuasively say to him that he hasn’t heard before.Inoue-sama is reasonable to Rodrigues when the two meet. He says this to the priest:“[This is] all so unnecessary. Just make a little effort to understand our point of view. We don’t hate you. You’ve brought it on yourselves. And you can rid yourself of it too. No need to feel lost.”But Rodrigues is deaf to this reasoning. It’s the Japanese who are lost. God has commanded him to rescue and save them.A local samurai interpreter interviews Rodrigues in captivity. The priest sits in his wooden cage, thin, haggard, emaciated, bearded. It’s unclear if he’s been fasting or hasn’t been fed enough. Like his daimyo master Inoue-sama, the interpreter knows his Bible and the logic of the Jesuits. He is keen sighted intellectually. The two of them — interpreter and Rodrigues — have the following conversation:Interpreter: I’ve been asked to interpret on your behalf. We have our own religion, Padre. A pity you do not notice it.Rodrigues: No, no. We just think in a different way.I: True. You believe our Buddhas are only men. Just human beings.R: Well, even a Buddha dies. Like all men.I: You are ignorant. Only a Christian would see Buddha only as man. Our Buddha is a being which men can become. Something greater than himself, if he can overcome all his illusions. But you cling to your illusions and call them faith.Rodrigues finds Father Ferreira. Or, more precisely, Ferreira is brought to Rodrigues by the daimyo. But he isn’t Ferreira anymore. Now he is called Sawano Chuan, his Japanese name. He’s an upstanding citizen in Nagasaki, married to a Japanese and the father of two children, his priesthood and celibacy things of the past. Years ago he renounced his faith to save many others from persecution, suffering and death. He did the humane, compassionate thing, suffering for it spiritually but not morally. If his faith would have destroyed the lives of hundreds of people, better to destroy that faith, or at least renounce it publicly, than to witness the deaths of innocent people.Rodrigues listens in disbelief and despair, his hero and mentor a traitor, a spiritual fraud. His crisis of faith will now be even greater than was Ferreira’s. How will he endure? You will not know until the very last scene in the film.This story of faith raises an interesting question for me: What is faith based on? I think it’s possible to believe in anything, to invest that belief with meaning and consider it precious, even holy or sacred. I think faith is an emotion that’s made in many cases by cultural storytelling, by old tales handed down through the generations. Identity for many comes from the stories they tell themselves about themselves. But the process is all quite strictly human, not divine, an imaginative invention, as it’s doubtful any rat, horse or dog prays to any god.The Jesuits were devout, sincere and deluded. That’s my view of them, and it was the Japanese establishment view of them too. Figures for Christianity in East Asia nowadays are as follows (percentage of the total population):Philippines (92%), South Korea (29%), Singapore (18%), Hong Kong (11%), Malaysia (9%), China (4%), Japan (2%).This is the legacy of sakoku in Japan’s case, its history an experience of isolation, defence and protection. The word of God as espoused by the Jesuits was something inimical to the overall mental and spiritual health of Japan. It was rejected outright as false and dangerous. Modern Japan today may suffer from many things, but one of them is not the fear of eternal damnation for failing to believe in the divinity of a man crucified in the deserts of the Levant thousands of years ago.Or as the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein once put it:“One man’s religion is the next man’s belly laugh.”

Amazing film

It is not the most interesting movie to watch, but gives you an historical perspective how catholic missionaries were brutally treated in Japan pre-1800 and Japanese govt policy towards foreign religions. The japanese warlords also saw catholicism as a political, social and cultural threat to Japan.

If: Apocalypse Now hasn't been returning the same goosebumps as it used to (because, for example, it's been 25yrs+ since you first saw it. And Redux of course kept the whole finding base truth as it's own goal story fresh.. but that was 16+ years ago. And for example, you've not iterated on it for getting on for a dozen years since now. Even if you've got the top of the line import bluray)And: You find religion fascinating in the Karen Armstrong (the ex nun who writes god books. genuinely how I inter-searched to remember her name) way.This! rolls both 'what does/is religion' into a fine 'journeying up river to find the truth' entertainment experience.All the 'it goes on forever' 1 star reviews are right, it does. But all the 5 star 'this should be taught in schools/meta-sociology* classes to our future leaders/etc' are true, especially given political shocks of recent years, and I'd converse on that with most anyone over jaegermeister until whatever happens.Disclaimer: This is a "It's not rated five stars? gotta do whatever i can, Now!" snap review, *no offence intended or theasuari checked (way deeper than sociology themes in this, but no idea on the correct academic terminology) or other reviews read or how Karen Armstrong (authority on this stuff) reviewed this consulted.

I wasn't excepting the storyline. I think I got it confused with another film. Well written but very sad to watch. I think I'm too emotional to watch these types of films. I'm not the audience for this one but would still recommend!

Just what I wanted

I can't say I enjoyed this, sadly! In terms of the positive side, it's beautifully shot and the acting was very good, particularly from Andrew Garfield and Yôsuke Kubozuka (the former really only because he manages to deliver some quite pretentious lines in an manner I could just about swallow). It also deals with a very interesting period in history: the persecution of Japanese Christians in Japan, and the missionaries who go there to help them. However, this was interminably long, and rather unnecessarily so; a lot of the time the speech had these lengthy pauses that felt either self-indulgent or made me want them to JUST GET ON WITH IT. Of course, I guess the film was just living up to its name...What annoyed me also was the 'white saviour' aspect: Andrew Garfield being worshipped by the Japanese Christians whilst he increasingly looks like (the Western interpretation) of Jesus with flowing locks and a haunted look. As for the Japanese, they seem to be portrayed as either living like animals or acting like barbarians. Another thing that grated on me was the constant voiceover saturated with heavy, prolonged doses of piety. However, the film was based on the novel by Shūsaku Endō and, having not read the novel myself, perhaps all this was true to the author's intent and writing.