Silence (2016)

“I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence? ” – Father Sebastião Rodrigues

Number of Times Seen – 1 (23 Jan 2017)

Brief Synopsis – Two Franciscan Monks travel to Japan during the 1600 to find their mentor and help converts to Christianity keep their faith despite persecution by the native government.

My Take on it – I have heard about this film for a few months and was glad to finally get to see it.

The story is extremely powerful and moving and it resonates really well even now.

Loved the way that they portray the acts of faith that all of these people have in God and how much they are willing to endure in order to continually cling to that faith.

Some of the religious persecution is quite graphic and they do a great job making it all seem realistic.

Throughout my watching of the film, I constantly thought about the meaning of the title and was pleasantly surprised by the end at the vats number of meanings of such an ambiguous word.

The acting is superb with Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson doing amazing jobs with the roles they were cats in.

This film’s story is told in epically and I have doubts if any other director would be able to do what Martin Scorsese was able to do here.

The film is a bit long, but engaging throughout.

This is clearly one of the best films of 2016 and I, for one, am quite disappointed that the Academy members didn’t choose it amongst the Bets Picture nominees and that is definitely a travesty.

Bottom Line – Great and powerful story that resonates so well. Amazing acting by Garfield, Driver and Neeson.  Excellent film about religious persecution which shows the lengths people will go to in order to preserve their faith.  Loved how the title can have so many meanings. Epically told in a way that only Scorsese would have been able to do.  One of the best films of 2016 and it was criminally overlooked by the Academy voters. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – According to Liam Neeson, director Martin Scorsese is “intimidating” on the set and “he requires absolute silence…if he hears one tiny sound, it shatters it for him.” (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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