Silence (Masters of Cinema)

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

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Film Description

Adapted from the renowned novel by Shusaku Endo, Silence explores the violent cultural conflict that came with the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in seventeenth-century Japan, and follows the trials and tribulations of two Portuguese priests as they seek out the Christian sects that have been driven underground, and attempt to re-establish the church’s influence over the country and its people. With a colour palette courtesy of master cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawaa, and a pensive score by the legendary Toru Takemitsu, Silence unearths both lies and beauty at the intersection of religion and Japanese society.

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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

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