When you watch a dull Martin Scorsese film, self-doubt is omnipresent. “This is me, right? It must be me. Scorsese doesn’t make boring films. Clearly, I’m wrong to be asleep at this moment.” In retrospect, I wasn’t wrong. Silence isn’t golden at the box office for pretty good reason: it’s three hours of praying periodically interrupted by post-medieval Japan getting medieval on your ass. I know that sounds fun, I mean, sure, once praying on film begins, woo! The party just follows, huh? But in reality, it’s even worse than it seems.
Portuguese Catholic priests Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garupe (Adam Driver) get a note that their personal Yoda, Father Liam Neeson, is not enjoying his business/pleasure conversion vacation in Japan. This being the 17th century, he wasn’t able to snapchat with a frowny face; the message delivery actually took seven years to find its home. The loyal protégés decide, “what the Hell? Not doing anything with my life. You?” and get on the next boat to Japan.
The letter makes it clear that Japan and Christian priests are a bad mix, so while it’s awesome for them that Rodrigues and Garupe find a Jesus-friendly cove, this unfortunately means that the picture will last longer than thirty minutes. Never in my life have I, nor will I, hear the word, “apostate” over and over and over again. The locals have separated into groups that either love the Christians or fear Christians to the point of -literally- beating the beJesus out of them. It always seems to come down to a local governor saying something on the order of “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The hard involves torture and death. The easy way involves stepping daintily on a conveniently portable image of Jesus Christ. This may well be historically accurate, but it seems a silly way to denounce faith. How do you select a leader, by drawing a picture of the candidate you believe in?
Silence is about faith. Scorsese is retreating to his Last Temptation of Christ roots in an examination of faith during crisis. The title refers to God’s inaction during the trials of the priests, constantly interrogating character and viewer alike, “how strong is your faith?” Unlike Last Temptation, however, the subject is small and so is the acting. A perpetually frustrated Andrew Garfield doesn’t compensate for a fairly hands-off approach to faith. While I sympathized with the leads, I found their mission futile and foolhardy. Do you not see how obnoxious it is to attack a thriving culture for its set of beliefs? Do you like getting Jehovah’s Witnesses at your door? Yeah, the Japanese
overreacted on the backside, but they had pretty good reason not to trust the European invasion.
Mostly, however, this film is godawful boring. The repeated one-note plot of forcing renounced faith would feel long a 75 minutes; Silence is over twice that. Of the oppressors, only Governor Inoue (Issei Ogata) has a perspective worth remembering. He aside, most of this picture is broken English and wraith-like saps tied to crosses. Sure, this satiates some sort of traditional innate cathartic cinematic need to watch fascist Japanese men torture Westerners, but I can’t help thinking it might be better if there were an end game for the missionaries.
If Martin Scorsese isn’t involved, this film doesn’t get made. You can take from that whatever you want; I’m going to take it to the theater next door. Maybe Monster Trucks is playing.
♪Hello Edo, my new friend
I’ve come to convert citizens
Because I’ve got the truth within me
I rep The Man in His Glory
And derision, I expect it all the same
Who’s to blame?
Faith abounds in Silence
Hello Oscars, my old friend
I’ve come to solicit you again
Because my release is January
And my name is Scorsese
Sure, your applause will recompense for intense lack
Crowd react
With the sound of Silence♫
Rated R, 161 Minutes
D: Martin Scorsese
W: Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese
Genre: Classy torture porn
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Truly devout Catholics
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Post-medieval Japanese
♪ Parody inspired by “The Sounds of Silence”
