By Emilio Frenk
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Yosuke Kubozuka, Issei Ogata, Diego Calderón and Ciarán Hinds.
Rating: Excellent.
Academy Award Winning Director Martin Scorsese joins forces for the third time with writer Jay Cocks and brings “Silence” and once again Mr. Scorsese delivered.
Based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, “Silence” takes place in the seventeen century and tells the story of Sebastiao Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver), two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan to locate Father Cristóvao Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who is gone missing.
Now the priests travel to Japan to rescue Ferreira and to spread the word of god. Once both Rodrigues and Garupe arrive to Japan they will suffer persecution and violence.
Now both priests will have the choice to continue spreading the word of God and pay the price or renounce their faith in order to survive.
“Silence” is very different from the movies of Martin Scorsese and that is the beauty of this film. It is not as violent as most of Scorsese movie where he uses violence as a tool but it is justified.
Yes, the movie is tense but at the same time is a very slow paced film. Like I mentioned before this is the third time that Martin Scorsese works with his co-writer Jay Cocks, who he previously work in “The Age of Innoncence” and “Gangs of New York”.
Both Scorsese and Cocks wrote a beutiful and strong screenplay. It was written with so much detail that they both went deep into the japanese culture of the seventeen century and as members of the audience we begin to be interested in their culture.
The performances by both Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver are amazing and you can tell they were both commited to the parts. Driver is one of the most versatile actors in this day and Garfield had a wonderful 2016 with “Hacksaw Ridge” and now with “Silence” is the proof of that.
Other elements like the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto was beutifully shot. The way that Prieto played with the contrasts when the characters were both in Portugal and the majority in Japan was captured in a magnificent way. Prieto also shot the landscapes beautifully and one of the things that I loved of the cinematography of “Silence” was the fact that this movie was shot on both 35mm and Digital and looks fantastic.
I have mentioned previously that seeing a film by Martin Scorsese is a blessing and a delight. He is one of the most important directors of cinema and once again he proved it with “Silence”.
Before watching “Silence” be totally open minded and take note that this film is almost three hours. It´s slow paced but if you see it with different eyes and specially if you are a history lover you are going to be amazed with this film.
Martin Scorsese directed another winner and “Silence” is one of 2016 best films and I give it a huge recommendation.