Much how I’m sure Martin Scorsese wanted it, I am really struggling with Silence, the film that is a passion project for the director. Silence is a movie about ideas and faith and I admire the effort that Scorsese put into getting this thing made. But Silence is a movie that doesn’t seem to invite one into its musings, in fact I often felt like the movie pushed me away at moments I wanted to engage with it the most. We understand the plight of these priests and their crisis of faith but I just couldn’t find the true empathy or introspection.
Maybe this had more to do with the filmmaking. I have struggled recently with films that have used voice over and attempted to create some kind of otherworldliness with it, while also wanting it to be a major storytelling device. The Tree of Life is a film that succeeds in that respect to great aplomb, Silence not so much. In Silence, the voice over is epistolary, initially a priest is reading a letter, next the priest is reading what he is potentially writing, and finally a Dutch trader recounting what became of them. Whether it was the sound mix or just the intrusiveness, these voice overs felt detached from the movie and distracted me from what was on screen. Now you combine this with some of Scorsese’s visuals that strike of showiness rather than shot choice (nearly the entire ending), and the movie, therefore, feels like a slog because elements of the film keep jerking away your concentration or preventing further examination of the themes.
This is unfortunate because I thought some of the interesting thematic content was there enough without the film attempting to enter a new plane. I really thought it was interesting how the film juxtaposed the levels of suffering faced by all of the characters. It truly was a fascinating examination into what suffering for one’s faith entails. Most interesting to me was the character of Kichijiro and his constant return to Padre Rodrigues, despite continually messing up. It’s in the conversations between them and Rodrigues pained looks/screams when others are being hurt that I think the movie snaps into focus. What does it mean to be a true Christian and how does the suffering of others factor into our personal journey? I could stew on those
Luckily, if you go to see this film, you will be able to witness some great performances from Andrew Garfield, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Tadanobu Asano, and Issei Ogata. These four men use every ounce of their considerable acting ability to inhabit their characters and bring what is mainly a film about internal struggle and manifest them beautifully for us to see.
Silence opens in theaters December 23.