I might not have experienced all of Martin Scorsese’s movies, but I always appreciate him as a brilliant director for obvious reasons. He's one of those directors who rarely ever has a mishap. Still to this day he has delivered classic level movies into his 70's.
Martin Scorsese doesn't make movies by the numbers. I love Steven Spielberg and his movies like The BFG is far more excellent than Scorsese’s work. When Scorsese gets his hands on a family or Children's movie he made Hugo which is Phenomenal. His directing style has been proved once again with Silence.
The celebrated director engages in a 28-year journey to bring Shusaku Endo's 1966 acclaimed novel to life. It tells the story of two Christian missionaries who have to face the ultimate test of faith when they venture onto Japan in search of their missing mentor at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden. There are some scenes in this movie that truly affected me in a deeper level.
Amazing performance
Andrew Garfield as father Sebastião Rodrigues and Adam Driver as father Francisco Garupe give the best performances of their career and even though I’m aware that Garfield’s nomination for Hacksaw Ridge was well reversed I felt that his performance in Silence had so much to offer and it just blew me away. Adam Driver as you may probably know his biding to Star Wars including the latest in the franchise The last Jedi and his recent film Paterson, gives an amazing performance as father Francisco Garupe. Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Academy Award nominee) Liam Neeson’s character plays more of a supporting role to the movie as his complexity changes the mission surrounding Fr. Rodrigues as his vulnerability reaches to the fullest where he begins to question his own faith upon God. Another great performance that needs to be mentioned is Yôsuke Kubozuka as Kichijiro. His character seems to be of the Judas type who we think has slit humanity inside but doesn’t. A big shout out to Issey Ogata. You folks remember Christoph Waltz from Inglorious Bustards. That’s who he reminded me of - a douche bag we all love to hate.
Confined environment
This film is gorgeous. The actions and scenes are captured by the same cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto who helmed The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) with Scorsese and their pairing in Silence is a thing of beauty if you love examining the way the film has been shot. This is one of Martin Scorsese’s best looking films. The most remarkable part of this project is that he unfolds this tale in a very small confined environment. A major part of the film takes place where the characters are in captivity or going through rural areas or having to survive in a very small tiny hut. The amazing fact is that this film looks as good as it does in such surroundings and it is a testament to this director-cinematographer pairing.
Beliefs vs. humanity? Believing in what you believe? Silence taught me that ultimately it has to be yourself and you have to find that faith, that relationship with Jesus within yourself. Scorsese describes the struggle as it is stated in the novel as he quotes “At first I didn’t really immediately know all when I was reading the book how to realize it. Make it real... Stage it, because I didn’t know the heart of it.’’ I personally think he succeeded on what he had visualized. The message that approached me is the struggle of the very essence of faith, the pure weakness of humanity.
It’s a story that in gut wrenching ways examines how a group of people were so brutality violated through their faith. They try to denounce the said faith in public. When the film ended I took a huge breath and I felt like I hadn’t really taken a single breath that big throughout the entire the run time because I was so focused on every single shot.
This is an emotionally staggering film and one of Scorsese’s best.
It’s incredibly difficult to make and it is a frustrating movie as well. But these are feelings I imagine one would go through when dealing with an extreme crisis of faith and that is a perfect reaction to one would possess after watching a film like Silence.
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