I remember watching Silence at my local independent cinema soon after release. I’ve been a big Scorsese fan since my first viewing of Taxi Driver (1976) and I had become hooked on everything Scorsese; I had swallowed up each film whole, each of his film recommendations, reviews of his films, and some merchandise related to them. Silence was an event in my life that I couldn’t miss. And it didn’t disappoint.



Silence is set in 17th Century Japan and tells the story of Sebastio Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) on a quest to find Cristovao Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a fellow Jesuit priest and their former mentor, who, according to a letter received, has apostatized or abandoned Christianity and now lives his life in as Japanese a fashion as possible.

Set in a time period where the Japanese authorities exercised extraordinary control over who and what the people of Japan worshipped (preferably no-one) the films main theme is that of faith – and this is not left as ambiguous by the director.

The priests played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver demonstrate the very limits of one’s faith – and to what ends the Christian people of Japan (who according to the film were severely subjugated) will do to exercise their belief in Christ.

What does it take to have faith? How much adversity is one to face in order to finally give up on the beliefs that one holds so dear? At the time of watching the film, I entered the screening as essentially an atheist, bound by the power of logical reasoning that I had learned from Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion. I left the screening with a deeper understanding of what hope, comfort and ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ religion and keeping faith can bring to people who are suffering in the darkest shadows.

I have come across several reviews regarding this film and am quite disappointed by the reaction of many.

Some say things along the lines that Scorsese’s film didn’t demonstrate the methods that Jesuit priests used to bring converts to Christianity. However the film is not about all the bad that Christianity (or religion in general) has done across the world. It is almost solely concerned by the question of faith. This enormous idea is explored in the film in gradients. Like climbing a mountain becomes more and more difficult after each checkpoint is reached, so does the brutality administered to the priests and their followers, and how they overcome is to be witnessed. The film acts as a testament to the strength of human willpower.

Ultimately the film demonstrates that faith is the most personal of things. No matter how you appear to an outsider, a believer or a non-believer, it is the principles you adopt to deal with your fears in your day to day life that show what your faith actually means to you. The film repeatedly and powerfully echoes the idea that even during times of such hardship where losing your life is likely, you can overcome with faith, even if your life is lost in the process.

Rating: ★★★★★ – Superb, would highly recommend – a masterpiece