Silence

I admire Martin Scorsese for reaching for matters of the heart without hesitation, even after audience-pleasing films like The Wolf of Wall Street or Shutter Island, knowing that it may not be successful commercially. And as is customary with matters of the heart, one reluctantly leaves out, limits, or shortens one's expectations. The fight for truth, against suffering, and with one's own ego, is portrayed in a way that is a destructive spectacle, thanks in large part to a phenomenal performance from Andrew Garfield. It raises a hundred and one questions, but mostly focuses on the same topic, which inevitably becomes tiresome even for the most accommodating viewer given the copious running time. Through Rodrigo Prieto's captivating camera work, Silence is visually stunning, but due to the sluggish screenplay, it is a bit challenging to engage in conversation about it. (24.02.2017)

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)

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)

An artistic statement that is not as thought-provoking as The Last Temptation of Christ, yet it is a beautiful piece of filmmaking, thoughtful, with first-class visual compositions. My relationship with this film is ambivalent. The main characters – the Christian priests – didn’t have my sympathy because they were spreading the gospel in a culturally different country where no one asked them to (and where Buddhism was strongly rooted) and at the cost of immeasurable suffering for the common folk, bleeding and dying, but at the same time, this account of Scorsese as a deeply religious man is so honest that you have to admire it, even if you might be ideologically inclined in a different direction. Scorsese wanted more, to show that the people of the distant past deeply believed in symbols and that strongly rooted beliefs cannot be broken, no matter how hard the hostile environment tries. Everyone believes in something. Some believe in the power of nature, some in the power of family, others in the power of money, and Scorsese and other Christians in the power of the Christian God. And I, an ordinary person and a mere atheist, have no right to deny and question this belief. Although I will still side with Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) and prefer the aforementioned The Last Temptation of Christ, which was deeper. PS: Garfield was brilliant. I was already intrigued by him already in The Social Network and I knew we would hear a lot about this guy. (03.06.2017)

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)