Silence

When the 2017 Oscar nominations started going around, some industry were surprised that the latest from Martin Scorsese was largely ignored (the film was nominated for Best Cinematography). Scorsese films receiving nominations and not winning is nothing new, but being ignored in favor oh another faith-based story starring Andrew Garfield, that seems strange. So today, I thought I would see if Silence was an overlooked masterpiece or something different.

Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō, the movie follows two Jesuit priests on a secret mission to Japan. Their goal: find their former mentor and determine if his rumored renunciation of faith is fact or fiction. However, with danger for themselves and the nation's hidden Christians at every turn, the priests faith will be tested in ways they couldn't possibly imagine.

Silence is the epitome of a very well made movie that's only sporadically engaging. A lot of this has to do with the very different approach taken by Scorsese. With almost every subject, Scorsese is known for presenting his material in sensational fashion. There's a lot of stylish violence, a modern soundtrack with pop hits sprinkled in, and overall just a lot of energy. It's why even his least popular movies (i.e. Shutter Island and Gangs of New York) are at least memorable. Heck he's even brought more life to faith-based material in the past with The Last Temptation of Christ.

Silence, on the other hand, lives up to its title with a glacial pace, minimal sound design, and a generally subdued approach even in the middle of torture scenes or characters being asked to renounce their core beliefs. I understand why this approach was taken. We're meant to feel the priests' isolation in the face of inner turmoil and terror, and avoiding a cartoonish approach to touchy material (foreign missionaries being attacked by a native government) means the film counters any intentional offense. It's a meditation on faith and is presented as such.

The themes of the movie are strong. Clearly Scorsese is using this material as his own form of religious reflection and the film has some interesting points to make about forgiveness, faith, and what piety looks like (i.e. do you hold true for the sake of the faith or give in for the sake of others). However, because the movie is based around faith so strong that it's a core part of your identity, anyone who doesn't share a similar belief may have trouble understanding the lead character's logic.

It also doesn't help that the movie is nearly three hours long. This is another Scorsese trope that isn't surprising so much as increasingly noticeable when your story moves so slowly. The seeds of the film's eventual payoff are planted about halfway through the movie it will truly try the audience's patience.

That's not to say the movie isn't affecting. It's beautifully shot, as indicated by the Oscar nod, and some of the performances are moving, and the toned down approach to the scenes of torture often makes the scenes more personal and uncomfortably intimate, rather than exploitative.

Acting-wise it's a mixed bag. Andrew Garfield is good for playing tumultuous young men, but since the movie also asks him to be an authority figure at times his general look and demeanor rejects the notion. As you'd expected the best performance in the film is from Liam Neeson, though his part is rather limited.

Well constructed but flawed, Silence is a movie that's tolerable for cinephiles but tedious for everyone else.