Martin Scorsese’s long gestating passion project revolving around the existence of faith and God given the most trying of times and persecution is one of 2016’s most thought provoking films.

“… Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1

Silence makes a strong case for this proverb from the New Testament in more ways than one. Scorsese’s epic historical adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel intimately explores the personal relationship between one’s faith in a higher power when tested under the most dire of circumstances. Andrew Garfield plays Sebastião Rodrigues, a priest of the Jesuit order in late 1600’s Macau. Rodrigues and his fellow Portuguese Jesuit, Father Garupe (Adam Driver) visit with a head priest of their order, Alessandro Valignano (Ciarán Hinds). Father Valignanao informs the two that he has received word of their mentor, Father Cristóvão Ferreira, whom the former two have been searching for diligently for years. Ferreira wrote a letter that had reached them after years of travelling between Dutch traders; one detailing the torture and persecution of the Jesuits in Japan with boiling water from hot springs in order to break their spirit and make them apostasize and renounce God. The two priests, Garupe and Rodrigues, are initially overjoyed to learn of their mentor’s possible survival; only to be later informed by Father Valignano that the Dutch trader also informed him that since the events of the letter, Ferreira has gone apostate and renounced God. Garupe and Rodrigues beg Valignano to allow the two to smuggle themselves into Japan; a country notoriously hostile to Christianity, in order to find if the whereabouts of Ferreira are true. They reason that even if Ferreira has apostasized himself; it is their direction from God to save his soul from damnation.

It is once the two journey to Japan that we see the depth of personal interest Scorsese has in his subject matter. Rodrigues and Garupe meet an exiled Christian, Kijichiro, who agrees to guide the two priests from Macau back to Japan so he can return to his home. There, Garupe and Rodrigues meet a village full of secret Christians. They desperately hunger for any sign of God’s presence among them; to know that God still loves them despite their status and the silence they hear from the Lord. They take the priest’s arrival as a sign of God’s divine intervention. Rodrigues feels guilt for how hard the lives of the villagers are; how they struggle so but still remain steadfast in their faith towards him. As time goes on, the persecution of the villagers grows more fervent and the two priests find themselves struggling with their faith as their situation changes. The two priests begin to wonder if the silence given their difficult situation with the Japanese and the inquisition they face is a sign of God testing their resolve, or whether God even exists.

Silence is in many ways an examination of the heart of darkness one feels when their personal principles
and beliefs are pushed to their limit and challenged to their core. Tadanobu Asano and Issey Ogata excel in their performance as Buddhist inquisitors who aim to break the hold that Christianity has amongst the Japanese and to show the Portuguese that proselytizing their faith in Japan is meaningless and only hurts the people they aim to save. They feel it is illogical to make people suffer, that the faith offers nothing to the Japanese, as men can actually become Buddhas, but one cannot reach Christ unless they die. The film presents the question of whether one needs overt actions to prove one’s faith, or if holding it in your heart silently is enough. The film has many strong points of views — no one is presented as wrong or inherently evil, and that makes the film a provocative one.

The film is full of strong performances. Andrew Garfield gives a career making performance as Rodrigues; one that makes you see his character a sa fully realized person that makes you even question why he struggles so hard against apostasy vs. belief. Cult film director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man) gives an impassioned performance as a secret Christian that is memorable and influences the arc of the film. Liam Neeson also provides one of the strongest voices in the film in a very strong supporting role.

Silence is one of the best films of 2016 and a thought provoking and evocative examination of faith and belief.