Your Account   Help   |   Your Basket: Empty   Checkout

 

Coming Soon      Bestsellers      Recommended      Special Offers      MovieMail Latest

MovieMailMovieMail HomeSin City
Home > Contemporary Film > Drama > Silence (Masters of Cinema)

Recommended Silence (Masters of Cinema)

Masahiro Shinoda, 1971

Star Review

Silence is set in 17th century Japan, where Christianity has been declared illegal and its followers undergo brutal persecution. It is to this environment that Jesuit Fathers Rodrigues and Garrpe arrive furtively by night to give succour to the remaining worshippers, and to learn what has become of Father Ferreira, who arrived twenty years previously with the same task. As already intimated by Toru Takemitsu’s opening musical theme, in which a melodious lute tune is fractured by dissonant splinters of notes from an alien scale, theirs will be no easy task. The film’s aesthetic sense places them in an alien environment; foreshortening and flattening techniques make scenes (such as Father Rodrigues arriving by boat at the magistrate's island) resemble Japanese woodblock prints, and desaturated film stocks further enhance the physical presence of the land in which these priests try and survive. Their choices are of principles against pragmatism, arrogance against forgiveness, and apostasy against death – of themselves and others. There are parallels here too with Jesus's life and betrayal. As Father Ferreira says, in such a desperate situation, Christ himself would apostatize for the sake of love.

Graeme Hobbs on 5th September 2007

View all 224 of Graeme Hobbs’s reviews

[ Show Film Description ]

Reviews

Share your thoughts - write a review

Film Stills - click to view in full

Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6

View all 6 film stills in full size

Related Genres

£15.99

RRP: £17.99
Save £2.00 (11%)
Free Delivery on UK Orders!

Availability
This product should be despatched within 4 days. Delivery times

Film Ratings

Average Rating

4/5

Log in to place your vote!

DVD Extras
  • Newly restored high-definition Toho transfer
  • New and improved optional English subtitles
  • Full-colour PDF facsimiles of two historical texts long out-of-print: A History of the Missions in Japan and Paraguay by Cecilia Mary Caddell (314 pages, c. 1856)
  • Japan's Martyr Church by Sister Mary Bernard (130 pages, c. 1926)
  • 20-page booklet containing a new essay by writer Doug Cummings, and more
Film Details

Director

Masahiro Shinoda

Year

1971

Country

Asia, Japan

Technical Details

Certificate

15

Length

129 mins

Label

EUREK

Format

DVD Colour

Region

2

Cat No

EKA40230

Main Language

Japanese

Subtitles

English

Customers who liked this also liked...

1964, Masahiro Shinoda, DVD

 

£15.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £4.00

Assassination (Masters Of Cinema)

Shinoda's first attempt at a period film, and widely considered to be his finest ...

More Details

 

MovieMail Latest

 

 

 

Films by Masahiro Shinoda

 

 

 

 

 RSS Feeds | Podcast | October Film Catalogue | Subscribe to our email newsletter!

Browse our Film catalogue: DVDs by Genre | DVDs by Country | DVDs by Director | DVDs by Actor

New Releases | Bestsellers | Recommended | Special Offers | MovieMail Latest

 

 

MovieMail use a Thawte certificate to ensure secure transmission of your information. Click here for for information HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.

 

 

For questions or assistance, call us on (+44) 0844 776 0900 or email enquiries@moviemail-online.co.uk

© 1996-2008 MovieMail Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail