A nearly three hour long movie about Christianity, religion, and the cultural value towards it. Whenever a movie is that long, it is always a challenge of patience. But in the hands of Martin Scorsese, it is always a safe bet.
I have never seen a period piece movie taken place in Japan, where the emphasis was put on the characters, especially the priests. Scorsese captures the beauty of the everyday life of the villagers that the two priests come across. What it is like to be a hidden Christian, living with fear everyday not knowing when your fate is going to come. The foggy and gloomy look of this movie almost represents what the people were like at this time in history.
Everyone in the movie had an emotional conflict and vulnerability about them that contributes to this movie.
Andrew Garfield was the one that had to carry most of this movie. We see the movie mostly through his eyes, his character Rodrigues had to go through many tribulations where he had to question his faith, purpose, and the shocking realization of the different ideas that he stood strongly by his whole life.
The Japanese cast however, are the ones that really get to shine in this movie. The villagers here are also truly moving. Their performances add to the fear and depression that the people has to live in this era.
There were some scenes where the metaphorical imagery was a little to on-the-nose, especially one scene involving a Jesus painting.
The dialogue and the discussion of various perspectives on religious was handled beautifully. Towards the end of the movie, the dialogue alone was able to create great tension without relying on effects and big extravagant moments. I think this film is a great way to see that religion and the cultural values surrounding it are not just a topical subject today, but a lot of conflict and tragedy occurred throughout our history.
