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Review: 'Silence' is an impactful, personal film
Adam Driver (left) and Andrew Garfield (right) play two Christian missionaries in Japan battling for survival in the movie "Silence."
Associated Press
▶ GUS HUNNINGHAKE @gushunninghake
Since the start of his career, Martin Scorsese has enjoyed rooting many of his films around themes of faith, guilt, righteousness and what may come from it. This can be seen specifically in "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), which depicts Jesus' life in an alternate reality. In the film, he's never crucified or accepts the fact that he's God's son, and tries to live out a normal life. This is also the case in "Kundun" (1997), a film that chronologically depicts the young life of the 14th Dalai Lama.
Scorsese has shown his ability to bring tales from various spots around the world to the big screen.
With "Silence," his first film since "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) Scorsese again decides to look at religion and its potential consequences from a direct and personal perspective.
"Silence" stars Andrew Garfield as Sebastião Rodrigues, a Jesuit missionary who, along with fellow missionary Francisco Gaupe (Adam Driver), goes to the heart of Japan to try and find Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a former teacher of his and Gaupe's who has supposedly denounced the Christian faith.
On their journey, they hold gatherings for mass with fellow Japanese Christians while hiding from a samurai known as the "Inquisitor." The samurai's goal is to travel through towns and get
people to apostatize, or kill them when they don't.
After the two main characters split up, Rodrigues is captured. He is then forced to see the people he has come to know and share his faith with suffer at the hands of the Inquisitor. Rodrigues must face the greatest challenges to his faith, and decide what he must do when all seems lost.
As a director, it's hard to point to a film that Scorsese has gotten his hands on that's poorly made. Since "Mean Streets" (1973), Scorsese has consistently delivered well-made movies with energy and a craft that is unique to his name.
"Silence" is no different. Each scene in the film's length 161 minute runtime feels important in some way. Whether it's introducing a
new setting or conveying a person's emotional state, every shot has its own purpose. Scorsese's vision, along with the skill behind the camera from cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, allows for wonderful long takes and fresh camera angles not normally seen in period pieces.
Despite the film being set in small spaces and villages, there is a sense of spectacle that only Scorsese could bring out with his strong stylistic tendencies.
Garfield also delivers another award-worthy performance. Along with "Hacksaw Ridge," he has proven that he can take on demanding roles with heft and grace. Garfield perfectly conveys Rodrigues' struggles and the torment he goes through while the strongest
thing in his life, his faith, is tested to exhausting, often violent extremes. There's not a scene that Garfield is in that feels out of place or unimportant, and the conviction he brings to his role makes it feel that much more important and impactful.
Both Driver and LNeeson bring strong performances as well. Their respective characters have small, yet important roles. They come and go at impactful times, and more often than not, their decisions end with heartbreaking consequences that have a strong impact on Rodrigues, the trials he faces, and the decisions he's forced to make.
As important as Rodrigues is to the narrative, both Garupe and Ferreira serve a purpose as
characters who either aid or break down Rodrigues' convictions and perceptions of his faith and what is truly righteous. With that in mind, Driver and Neeson deliver on this purpose with their own unique qualities that allow them and Garfield to transcend their roles and feel as close to real as a character can.
As a whole, "Silence" is equally an impactful and important film. "Silence" delves deep into the testing of a man's faith, and it's hard to watch at times, but only in the most effective emotionally impactful ways. It perfectly depicts the struggle of wanting to stay strong and is one of Scorsese's most personal films to date.
- Edited by Casey Brown
Gallery: Tech N9ne returns to Lawrence for concert
PHOTOS BY MIRANDA CLARK-ULRICH
Kansas City hip-hop artist Tech N9ne performed at the Granada on Jan. 20. Krizz Kaliko accompanied Tech N9ne throughout the concert.
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