Silence

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Silence
On Shelf At: Westgate Branch

Based on the novel by Shūsaku Endō.
Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Ciaran Hinds, Shin'ya Tsukamoto.
Two Catholic missionaries face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan looking for their missing mentor, at a time when Catholicism was outlawed.
DVD, widescreen.
Contents: Chinmoku.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

catholic and culture crash submitted by leea on June 25, 2017, 12:19pm Depth of faith and human believe had demonstrate in this movie.

Silence submitted by yenkong on August 3, 2017, 7:23pm This movie is really long.. almost 3 hrs!

ok submitted by leenajong on August 3, 2017, 7:51pm If you can handle long and slow pace.

Patience submitted by markwells on August 18, 2017, 1:06pm If I was more patient I would have enjoyed it more. There's a good movie in there but too many boring stretches for me. Grade: B-.

Silence submitted by leighsprauer on February 19, 2024, 8:44am Spoiler Alert.

First, some background: Silence is based on the 1966 book of the same name, written by Japanese Christian author Shusako Endo. The book, in turn, is historical fiction, but based on the lives of Jesuit missionaries to Japan in the 17th century. Japan, having been evangelized by St. Francis Xavier (and others) in the 16th century, had a fairly robust Christian population by the early 17th c. However, in 1612, fearing threats to Japanese unity, it was banned, and Christians persecuted and martyred, driving Christians into hiding. Fr. Cristovao Ferreira apostatized under torture, and lived the rest of his life as a Buddhist.

This is where the movie begins. Two Jesuit priests request to be sent to Japan to search for their mentor, Fr. Ferreira. There they find the Christian community in hiding, and struggle (sort of ) alongside them as they face torture and martyrdom unless they also apostatize.

I liked the first two-thirds of the movie. There were some strange cinematography, production, and casting choices - characters' voices popping up as their inner dialogue, and the casting of Inoue, the Japanese Inquisitor, for example - that detracted from the movie, but on the whole it was inspiring. The faith and courage of the peasants was inspiring, of course, but even the continual cycle of weakness and repentance of Kichijiro was beautiful in its own way. Kichijiro's cowardice made him renounce his faith, and even turn over his friends to the Inquisitor, more than once, but he sincerely requested and was given reconciliation every time, a poignant example of every Christian's own sin, weakness, and need for Christ, and of Christ's patient forgiveness.

Unfortunately, the movie took a drastic turn after one of the two priests, Fr. Rodrigues, meets Fr. Ferreira, and the Inquisitor puts Fr. Rodrigues in the almost-impossible (but not quite!) position of having to renounce his faith in order to save the Christian laypeople being tortured in front of him. Until this point, Fr. Rodrigues has been adamant that he will not apostatize (although he has told laity that it was acceptable to step on a picture of Jesus - the test of their Christianity - in order to save themselves, which was problematic, but something I was willing to overlook). Now, however, he hears the voice of Jesus, from Whom he had heard only silence, Who tells him gently to go ahead and apostatize. He does, and spends the rest of his life like Fr. Ferreira, living as a Buddhist and employed by the Japanese government. At the end of his life, it becomes clear that he did hold on to his faith in secret, but no one, except perhaps his wife, knew.

So. At best, Fr. Rodrigues is weak and cowardly. Not that I wouldn't be weak and cowardly in his position - I hope I wouldn't, but I can't say for sure. But I certainly wouldn't want anyone to make a movie out of my life if that's the case. It's a depressing thing to see. At worst though, Fr. Rodrigues exhibits a truly awful casuistry: that if your intentions are good, it's okay to sin. When he's facing the test of his faith, Fr. Ferreira asks him: what would Christ do if He were here? He would apostatize of course! To would do anything to save those people's lives! That sounds good, because of course Jesus loved people and loved life, but He was the Truth; He cannot deny the Truth. It's ridiculous. The voice that Fr. Rodrigues hears, presumably Jesus' voice, telling him to apostatize, seems more likely to be the voice of Satan. Jesus can forgive sin, as many times as needed, but it makes no sense for Jesus to tell you to sin. Sin is what separates you from Him; separating yourself from Jesus is never the answer. A Jesuit ought to know this. (I noticed in the credits that James Martin, SJ was a consultant on the film, which explains a lot.)

I will give the movie credit for fostering an interesting conversation between me and my teenage daughter. And the examples of martyrdom and faith were inspiring. But the wishy-washy morality ruined it, and I can't in good conscience recommend it.