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Japanese actor in Scorsese's 'Silence' drawn to recurring theme

5 Comments
By YURI KAGEYAMA

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I watched the movie "Silence" , thankfully I am not a professional movie critic because, while the story line peaked my interest, I was disappointed overall.

I should know better than to expect too much.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Yubaru

I agree. I am a Christian and wanted to love the movie. In the end the movie was okay and I expected better. However, I think the synopsis of the movie was clear that Japanese Christians suffered greatly for their belief in Jesus Christ.

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"... I think the synopsis of the movie was clear that Japanese Christians suffered greatly for their belief in Jesus Christ."

It is true that Japanese Christians suffered greatly. Some probably did actually believe in Jesus. However, the film depicts other Japanese Christians simply as desperately poor peasants who are seeking a better life in the hereafter. It would be more accurate to say that they hoped for an afterlife free of pain and deprivation and believed that belief in Jesus guaranteed it. This is all that priests could ever offer. I think that Father Rodrigo came to realize this and could no longer bear to offer simplistic explanations if it meant a horrible death for his flock. Better to remain silent in one's own beliefs.

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I should have read some reviews about Silence before I went in. I expected something completely different, and I was not at all prepared for the intense Christian navel gazing in relation to their own beliefs under pressure. It was tedious at best. I also felt they made very little attempt to really examine the context and motivation to the Japanese objection to their missionary zeal. Instead, they were portrayed as brutal, sadistic torturers and killers.

I left before the end.

The film carried stunning references to cannibalism, which some historians say really happened.

Ah, come on Yuri, seriously??!! It's widely known, very well documented. I'll let you read my Grandfather's war diary if you like. He was there. He saw it. Irrefutable fact.

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"I should have read some reviews about Silence before I went in. I expected something completely different, and I was not at all prepared for the intense Christian navel gazing in relation to their own beliefs under pressure. "

If you had read the novel first - by the Catholic writer Endo Shudaku - you might have saved yourself some pain and the price of a ticket. The reviews were mixed.

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