This is a film before and after the famous director Martin Scorsese who directed "Hugo", "Shutter Island" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" A masterpiece that took 20 years to complete.
The male protagonist is Andrew Garfield, the protagonist of the very popular "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge" some time ago. Yes, this is another movie that is inseparable from faith. "Silence" tells a true historical event - the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan promulgated a ban on religion and carried out cruel persecution of Catholics. At the same time, this film is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous Japanese writer Endo Shusaku, so this film has high historical and literary value. With such a high-value story and background, what he wants to tell is a story that is very easy to understand, but also makes the audience think.
(Slight spoilers below)
At the beginning of the story, the church in Portugal received news that Ferreira, the Christian mentor of the male protagonist Rodrisno, was forced to apostate due to the cruel persecution of the Japanese when he was preaching in Japan. The young Rodriguez and his companion Gape (Adam Driver) couldn't accept the behavior of their most admired soul teacher who betrayed their beliefs, and decided to go to Japan to find Ferreira in person. And so the story unfolds.
They smuggled to Japan with the help of a Japanese man, Yoshijiro (please taste the character of Yoshijiro when you watch it). Jijiro said madly, Catholics are dead. When Gape heard this sentence, he was so sad as a child with tears in his eyes, which was heart-wrenching!
They arrived in a village in Japan, where there was danger at any time, because anyone who reported a Catholic would get 100 silver dollars, a brother would get 200 silver dollars, and a priest would get 300 silver dollars.
Nonetheless, the arrival of Rodriguez gave the village hope that their hunger and thirst for righteousness could be satisfied in these two servants of God.
They gathered together in a small house to sing and pray. But the good times did not last long, and soon they were persecuted. The Japanese government asked the villagers to hand over the Catholics in the village, or three people would be taken away.
One scene that moved me
was the words that villager Moji said to Rodrisno when he was about to be taken away by the government.
Does this count as belief? The film does not answer, leaving it to people of faith to think.
The punishment they will receive is very similar to that of Jesus being crucified. In the cold winter, he was tied to a cross and let the sea wash away until he died. . .
Rodriguez and Gape watched the scenes from a distance, and they kept praying but got no answer.
In this movie, there is almost no BGM in the whole process, only the sound of nature, which fits the name of the movie "Silence". But before Moji died, he hummed a hymn.
The hymn that was supposed to be sung together by all the believers, now only Mouki's song echoed in the valley. . .
After this incident, the young Rodrisno seemed to be much older. He felt that the villagers died to protect him. He blamed himself deeply. In order to protect the village, they decided to leave here.
Rodriguez began to think about a question:
The film does not answer, leaving the audience to think. . .
Rodrisno kept praying, and he felt hopeless in his heart, but he still held on to God.
Just as the title of the film is silent, Rodrisno begins to feel the existence of God. This passage is believed to resonate with many Christians.
In the end Rodrisno was imprisoned, where he met many persecuted Catholics. (Follow-up)
A conversation that touched me very much:
At this moment, all of them need to rely on the Lord to forgive.
However, what the Japanese government wants to do is not to kill them directly. They want Catholics to step on the statue of Jesus to show that they are willing to abandon the religion. If you don't want to do it, you will be killed.
The government has always emphasized that this is just a formality. After stepping on the Christ statue, you can do whatever you want. However, for faithful Catholics, is this just formality? Leave it to the audience to think.
The Japanese government kept torturing Catholics in front of Rodrisno, and as long as Rodrisno stepped on the statue of Jesus, the government would release all Catholics. If it were you, what would you do?
In the end, in order to make Rodrisno give up teaching, the Japanese government brought Rodrisno's life mentor Ferreira to Rodrisno. At this moment, Ferreira has changed his Japanese name, married a Japanese wife, and was with the then Rumors are the same. Ferreira also said that the seed of Christ could not grow in this swamp in Japan.
How will Rodrisno face this formerly respected mentor
? . .
These are all reserved in the movie to find the answer.
The theme of the film is silent, and Rodrisno keeps praying. Facing the persecution of so many believers, God has remained silent.
Is God really silent? The movie doesn't tell everyone, it just leaves the audience to think.
Can the seed of Christ really not grow? Is it really destroyed by persecution? Also left to the audience to think about.
Watching this film is going back to history. Until 1873, the Meiji government lifted the ban on religion, and Christianity began to revive after 300 years of silence. Those seeds 300 years ago have not been destroyed, they are still growing slowly.
I admire the believers during this period. Their beliefs are persisted with their lives. Their beliefs are that even if they cannot hear God's response, they still insist on trusting in God. Seeing death is not a passing away, but a beginning of joy.
In this film, believers who have seen the ugliness and cruelty of human nature, but have truth, goodness and beauty, share only a little bit of food. There are poor people who can't bear the suffering and give up their beliefs, and there are brave warriors who persist in not abandoning their religion. But are those who cannot bear it, rejected by the Lord? It is impossible to generalize, I even believe that people like Yoshijiro who betrayed their faith many times are loved by the Lord. Because the Lord said, "I don't want one of these boys to be lost." (Matthew 18:14)
Final spoiler:
Rodriguez still had the cross in his hand until the moment he died.
View more about Silence reviews
