Silence

After releasing masterfully crafted genre movies that won the favor of mass audiences, Martin Scorsese tried his hand at a more demanding project. And just like in The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun, he turned his attention to religion. Built on dialogue, atmospheric shots of the given locations and subtle use of sounds, Silence is a slow film almost without any music. The structure is reminiscent of Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Even as an atheist, I was surprised to enjoy the psychological analyses of the characters and the philosophical musings about the importance and consequences of faith, as well as the responsibility of its promulgators. Andrew Garfield is really, REALLY good. (16/01/2017)

It’s clear already from the name of the director of this movie that this won’t be just an ordinary movie. Martin Scorsese has the gift to make revolutionary movies and this one will be no exception. The only problem is that he’s not offering a simple, meaningful and logical plot. You see the Japanese are anything but easy to understand for us and you need a lot of time to study them. And that may be why this film is so interesting and that may have been the reason why Martin Scorsese decided to make a movie like this. And I totally understand the silent camera which has the image of what’s going on in the scene speak for it. You see, this film is so interesting that it’s actually incredibly hard to understand. You be the judge of that. The movie takes 161 minutes. For most of the movie, what you get is silence, destruction and two priests who are evidently somewhere where they shouldn’t be at all. The viewer can’t even by surprised by what they see. What I was surprised by, however, was Andrew Garfield’s acting performance, who is no longer the underage Spiderman who I took him to be. He finally got a chance to show himself. And along with the absolutely amazing cinematography, these are two reasons why this movie is worth watching. I was ecstatic. Silence may not be an easy film, but it’s full of incredible moments. And those sure are worth experiencing! (27/02/2017)

One star for perfect cinematography, the rest fell victim to utter boredom and annoying Catholic propaganda. The answer to most of the questions asked by Father Rodrigues could be: "Because you came here forcing your delusions on us!" Fortunately, the Japanese did not make the same mistake as the Aztecs and Incas. They allowed the Catholics to become martyrs, thus avoiding the Conquista and the Holy Inquisition. The film was awfully long, and the story was so monotonous it dragged on like a snail soaked in honey. I wished the main characters a slow and painful death, and I was secretly hoping that one of the Japanese would finally run out of patience, reach for a katana and create a ‘pagan's cut,’ cutting the film shorter by at least a third. (07/01/2020)

Personalities like Martin Scorsese have the power to make the general public interested in subjects they choose. Such a personal topic for Scorsese was the novel "Silence" by Shūsaku Endō, which he presented to Western viewers 45 years after its original Japanese adaptation Silence. However, it is very difficult to establish a personal connection to the story of Portuguese Jesuits on a Japanese mission in the 17th century. The spiritual atmosphere and beautiful landscape are certainly captivating, but A-list actors like Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson are naturally more suited to a different context. (22/02/2024)

If Martin Scorsese didn't have a hand in this, I'd probably avoid it in a big way. Unfortunately, I have to say that his contribution is not very good this time around, and except for about three very interesting camera shots, the whole film is very monotonous and at times drags incredibly. I understand what Martin Scorsese wanted to convey and it certainly has a concept. But in the end I suffered through the whole two and a half hours more out of respect for the director than for any other reason. (28/04/2019)