Silence

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Hector I Yesterday I saw Scorsese's film Silence and, strange to say, it's very good but should have been shorter. It follows the story of two Jesuit priests who go to Japan to try to find one of their leaders, who suffered the terrible repression of Christians in Japan in the 17th century after a few years of relative peace following the arrival of the missionaries. This is years after the worst massacres of Japanese converts and priests. Those who remain hide in fear. The two priests arrive in a sublime, savage Japan, very sober and miserable. Japanese inquisitors are on the prowl to flush out the Christians, and we follow the two men as they try to revive hope and find their spiritual master. The hero is taken prisoner, and the Japanese try to make him recant his faith, which he eventually does. Sometimes laborious in its narration, or a little long-winded, it explores an often overlooked facet of faith (denial) and the repression of freedom of thought and belief. At times refined and very cruel, the Japanese inquisitors want to both break and absorb these men of faith, who are overflowing with love for these Japanese who risk everything to believe in God. It makes me want to delve into the history of the Church Fathers and Christian philosophy. The ending is terrible, because despite all his repudiations, Father Rodrigues will never stop believing, his Japanese wife didn't know it, and even his master Fereirra will say “our lord”, even though they were acting as religious customs officers for the Japanese. Kichijiro is a very interesting character, who denies his faith 4 times or more (I stopped counting) to save his life. At first we pity him, but through betrayal (Judas, of course, or maybe stone) we come to hate him. But in the end, he represents our weakness, and therefore our humanity. Just as Father Rodrigues identifies with Jesus when he's imprisoned, he eventually gives in to save lives. A fine film, really! Although a little slow, it's worth a (long) detour! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/11/25 Full Review Johanna R Horrible torture scenes Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 12/12/24 Full Review John K Historical fiction based a the book of the same name is produced and directed by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese kept to the book and did not deviate too much from the book. It helps us understand what happened to over 400,000 Christians living in one Japanese city over 400 years ago. How Japan resisted and eliminated the infiltration of Christianity and prevented subjugation by the Europeans. The heart wrenching stories of Japnese Chrisitians having to go through the act of fumi-e and survival of the few over the centuries in the underground church is fascinating. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/04/24 Full Review Kizza X Soporific. I'd recommend this to anyone suffering from insomnia, it will surely put you to sleep. You also can't get past the fact that Spanish missionaries had no right to impose their own imperialist, corrupt and violent religion upon a country thousands of miles away. Look what they did to the indigenous peoples of south and central America. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/02/24 Full Review Michael H Scorsese's best movie. An emotionally beautiful film that shows what it's truly like to be a missionary willing to die for your faith. Simply stunning in every way. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/25/24 Full Review Sams K Scorsese is a genius. Everything works fine with this. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/23/24 Full Review Read all reviews

Silence

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