“Silence” Speaks Up
Release Date：Jan/13/2017
Genre：Adventure/Drama/History
Director：Martin Scorsese
Cast：Andrew Garfield、Adam Driver、Liam Neeson、Yôsuke Kubozuka
Viola's Rating：8.0
It has
been 28 years for director Martin Scorsese to finally finish his latest feature
film “Silence”, which was released on January 13th, 2017. It’s a
film he must finish, not only for the visit the author of its original novel
paid, but also for his own longing for Catholic and Christianity.
Based
upon the 1966 novel of the same name by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, “Silence” is a fictional spin-off of a real
story. This adventurous, historical drama sets in the 17th century.
Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan propagating Catholicism and attempting
to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy.
After
the production of “Life of Pi”, Taiwan was introduced to Scorsese by director
Ang Lee as an amazing place to film instead of just a hometown. As a close
friend of Lee, Scorsese visited Taiwan in 2014 to do location scouting
including the largest self-generating wave tank built for a flick in Taichung.
Later in the beginning of 2015, “Silence” was shot entirely in Taiwan.
A bunch
of biblical symbols are presented in the motion picture such as the twelve disciples
and idol worshipping. It’s very bleak that a once flourishing religion is now demolished
and people who believe in it are prosecuted.
Due to
the cold-blooded punishment such as anazuri which hangs people upside down and
leaves them bleed over a pit and the wide depressing sea, the hues of the movie
are soil brown and steel grey, not bright and lively at all.
With
these biblical symbols and vivid demonstration of torture, “Silence” gives the
audience a chance to ponder about the true meaning of religion. Most religion
teachings tell us to confess and to face our weakness, and Catholic emphasizes “confession”
even more. Everyone desires salvation regardless of the religion you believe
in.
In “Silence”,
confession is embodied in alternative ways: apostasy, continuous and repetitive
confession that you don’t know whether it’s genuine or not and keeping one’s
religion deeply in hearts. Each provides a different realization on how we
should look at religions. Is how people think about us matters the most? Or the
God who we believe in is the one who cares although he’s silent all the time?
Shot in
Taiwan, the various natural sights shown in the picture represents the cruel of
“silence” and the beauty of patience. Waiting for the day to reunite with their
mentors, waiting for the day Japan gives in, waiting for the day their God finally
listens to them, pastors in “Silence” endure tremendous adversity in such
intriguing environment. “Silence” is an inspirational and motivational feature
film for Christians or religious activists since it speaks up for the true
meaning of belief.
Picture credit: IMDb
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