Movie Review: Silence (English)
This is at times gruesome and uncomfortably stifling (to be a mute observer, that is), perhaps clinical and distant even, but it's remarkably poignant and thought-provoking, with Scorsese never for once colouring the narrative with his own interpretation of the events. The most profound moment occurs when a jesuit evangelist (played by Andrew Garfield called Father Sebastião Rodrigues) is put through psychological torture by forcing him to watch fellow Japanese Christians suffer and is eventually made to question his own beliefs (how can the benevolent God allow such an atrocity?) and wonder whether the people who have converted to Christianity even know what they are worshipping. "Mountains and rivers can be moved. But man's nature cannot be moved," says a character, quoting a Japanese proverb, as if echoing these very thoughts. With a runtime of 161 minutes, Silence can seem overly long, yet it's one definitely worth pondering. I have been, at least.
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