A film with a strong Christian overtone like "Silence" is expected to have less popular appeal. On the other hand, Christians are not necessarily cheering, because the play is adapted from Endo Shusaku's original novel, and the content of faith in it does not fully conform to the "orthodox" dogma. Of course, compared to director Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, "Silence" should not arouse the high-profile protests of the church as it did back then.
The narrative focus of "Silence" is centered on the experiences of the hero, Father Lodigus, including his various external experiences in finding his mentor Ferreira during the period of Japanese prohibition and his relationship with "God's silence on his suffering people." Struggling inside. Such a description of an experience that is highly concentrated on one character needs to make the audience have a high degree of empathy for it.
The question is, if the audience is not a believer, will it be difficult to enter the world of the characters? How would they understand its persistence and struggle? Do you feel that he is "irrelevant"? However, even if believers watch this play, they may also face the following problems:
Is Silence a Missionary Movie?
The background of the story of "Silence" is the Tokugawa shogunate period when Japan completely banned Christianity and persecuted believers in the seventeenth century. Although facing persecution, there are still underground believers who hold their faith in Japan, and there are also Western missionaries who sneak into the local mission.
On the surface, "Silence" is a story of a Jesuit priest who defied persecution and went to other places to preach by faith. It began when Lodigos didn't believe the news that his teacher Ferreira had given up teaching in Japan due to persecution, and he resolutely went to the mission. Japan looks for Ferreira. His intention was to make sure that Ferreira had not abandoned religion, how could this trip be a reconfirmation of abandonment rather than mission
--Because Ferreira did quit, and Lodigus ended up doing the same.
It can be said that "Silence" is an "anti-mission" or "post-mission" film.
Originally, the Jesuits objected to Lodigus performing this mission. Because the shogunate suppressed too much, the news of the church and the local priests has been cut off, and Japan has implemented a policy of closing the country. In fact, the mission phase has ended. Although the play often mentions how Lodigos remembers "the sheep in this land have no shepherd", but his primary motivation is actually the obsession "to prove that Ferreira did not abandon religion". Secondly, the story later also raised questions about mission: Lodigus was caught by Mamoru Inoue Chikugo and had a face-to-face religious debate, which seemed to be as eloquent and eloquent as Paul.
On the one hand, Inoue and other officials maintain that Buddhism is the religion of the Japanese, and on the other hand, if Christianity spreads to the Japanese, it will deteriorate; Lodigus insists that Christianity is true and beautiful, and even if it deteriorates, it is only because Japan is a "poisonous land." ".
Speaking of which, he has actually confirmed mission failure, because he also believes that the land is inherently poisonous, regardless of the seed of faith. This is also a turning point in the narrative, where the tension of the drama is focused on maintaining personal beliefs. The real mission or test of Lodigus is not his ability to preach, but his own ability not to abandon it.
From the perspective of Japanese persecutors, this "post-mission" period is also a "post-martyrdom" period. The method of persecution is to torture hostages, and the purpose is to make priests publicly apostate rather than martyrdom.
Lodigus naively thought that as long as he had the endurance to endure persecution and the courage to be martyred, he would be able to demonstrate the faithfulness of Christ, but he only confirmed after Ferreira that it is impossible not to abandon religion. This turn is also the tendency of belief to become personal, which can only be defended, not attacked.
Martin Scorsese rewrote the open ending of the original book as "Lodigus still held to his faith when he died", which is a tragic victory of faith.
Is God silent?
The title refers to God's silence in the face of believers. Although "silent" refers to hearing, for Catholics at the time, God's revelation was often visual, so Lodigus often took comfort in imagining the face of Christ. But God's silence was also visual to him. For example, when he witnessed the martyrdom of his brother, he wondered why the glory of God had not been shown, and the martyrdom had not been made a grandeur.
It's a pity that the movie doesn't emphasize the impact, and just plainly depicts believers dying in the pale sky and turbulent waves.
The description of "God's Silence" in the original book is all expressed in the voice of Lodigus, but the film's description of this is relatively omitted, mainly using images to express the plot, focusing on "Jesus will also be for those He loves. On the question of "Abandonment?", the inner struggle of "Why is God silent?" takes a back seat.
Maybe it's because God isn't actually silent, but his revelation isn't what people expect.
When Lodigus heard Christ speak to him, He told him to trample the icon as instructed by the Japanese. If God could speak through spiritual elders, "Christ also apostates for the suffering of those he loves" is what Ferreira taught after his apostasy. When Lodigus heard Christ break the silence, He said "Thumb down on me! I came to be trampled by you. I understand your pain". As a result, Lodigus apostates, but he believes that even if God is silent, his life has spoken for him.
This is confusing. If a believer's life is to testify to his faith, believe in his heart, confess with his mouth, and put his faith into practice, then how can he use his life to speak on behalf of Christ if he has abandoned the religion?
Interestingly, Lodigus abstained not only once, but many times under the orders of the shogunate. That seemed to imply that Lodigos was only superficially apostate and might still maintain his faith and preach privately.
If life were a story, Lodigus thought that the theme of the story was "the belief of the strong, not afraid of martyrdom", but it turned out to be "the belief of the weak, constantly abandoning religion".
The Japanese Yoshijiro, who had betrayed him and abandoned his religion many times, was originally a contemptible Judas in the eyes of Lodigus, but in the end he was a forerunner. In the movie version, Yoshijiro is played by Kubozuka Yosuke. The sloppy but undisguised handsome image is more positive than in the novel, highlighting his importance as a Lodigus companion rather than a betrayal.
Yoshijiro was cowardly, but kept turning back and begging for repentance, crossing the line between abandoning religion and believing in religion. Such a life of faith is not like the eloquent Paul, but a Paul who struggles between two laws.
Is the adaptation of the ending superfluous?
The biggest change is the ending: the ending of the original "Silence" was originally ambiguous, describing the experience of Lodigus after abandoning religion and changing his name to Okada Sanmaemon in the style of official documents, including being asked to confirm his abandonment many times. , and the fact that Yoshijiro was found to be carrying a forbidden sacred object, it will be over after the death of Lodigus and the arrangements for his funeral.
As for whether Lodigus was an "undercover" who apparently abandoned religion, or whether he kept regaining his faith until his death, Endo Shusaku only made an indirect description, leaving blank spaces for readers to appreciate, so as to keep the struggle and thinking about faith alive. Open energy.
However, Martin Scorsese's "Silence" has to "draw a doll and draw a intestine" to be finalized: the final scene passes through the wooden barrel containing the body of Lodigus, and he holds the cross that Moji gave him in his hand. Indicates his adherence to the Christian faith.
It has always been the practice of Hollywood commercial films. Even if the plot is in danger of being refuted, the audience must get the answer before leaving. Since the closing statement has been made, there is no room for people to continue thinking, which is also the difference between commodities and literature and art. The blank space makes the audience feel better and more relevant, because the silence of God is actually a blank space.
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