'Silence' A Review

Silence is a historical drama based on the novel of the same name. Portuguese Padres Rodrigues(Andrew Garfield) and Garupe(Adam Driver) set off to find out the fate of their mentor Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who has disappeared in 17th century Japan after the Japanese government has started to prosecute Christians. After getting to Japan they minister to small villages in secret but are eventually discovered and captured by the Grand Inquisitor(Issey Ogata).

Garfield, never terribly magnetic, translates his natural default petulance into this character with little success. It's unclear if he is suppose to be compelling or sympathetic, or what we are suppose to think or feel about him at all, but the result is a portrait of a self righteous naive rather boring young man. Driver is much more adept in bringing some depth to the relatively flat character but is shuffled off screen before he has an opportunity to do much. The two also implement truly bizarre and distracting accents which are more reminiscent of high school kids doing "upper class" than the period and country they're intending to evoke. Neeson, who essentially has only one scene, is stalwart and captivating as always, doesn't bothering with whatever pseudo european dialect the others are attempting and is stronger for it. Although he is only in the film for a couple minutes he has one of the strongest presence, putting feeling into the one actual open discussion of faith which the film engages in. The other strong presence, and essentially the savior of the film, is Ogata who gives depth, humor, menace, and logic to his character. Basically the only character in the film with any nuance, that evokes any actual interest. The Japanese townsfolk who interact most directly with the Padres and who are then persecuted are all played with an over the top fawning eagerness that is confusing and feels disingenuous if not straight up exploitive.

Visually the film is beautiful, we can expect, at least, wonderful cinematography from any Scorsese picture. But that aside Silence is mostly an abject, and boring, failure. For a film seemingly explicitly about faith and spirituality it says little about it. For a film seemingly about culture clash it says little about the East or the West. For a film seemingly about history it provides little to no context for the action taking place. For a film that seemingly believes it has a point or message it is utterly lost. Perhaps for a very small population of suspended Catholics this film may offer some margin of interest but anyone else will be caught in its dull morass.

The latest in a series Scorsese pictures that are all proficiency with no substance.

Don't See It.