Silence

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Starrings: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Issei Ogata, Tadanobu Asano

Country: USA, Taiwan, Mexico

Year: 2016

Review by Roberto Matteucci

“Surely God heard their prayers as they died. But did He hear their screams?”

At the same time as Jesuits landed in America, accompanied by Spanish and Portuguese, many of their colleagues travelled from the other side of the world. The destinations were China and Japan, developed, vast societies and cultures but severely closed.

Ignacio of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1534 along with Francisco Xavier known as Francesco Saverio. Francesco's goal was to devote himself to preaching, and for this reason, he left for Japan, where he started to convert many people.

The Japanese welcomed Francesco with their usual curiosity, even for the similarities with the school Pure Land Buddhism.

One of the reasons for the spread of Catholicism among the Japanese was an economic issue because contact with friars meant a commercial connection with Europe.

Thanks to their experience in far-off countries, the Jesuits used their approach methodology to be accepted from different cultures: enculturation. They looked for the affinities, some space of their culture to build the idea of Catholicism.

The Jesuit Matteo Ricci came to China in 1577 and succeeded in getting into the graces of the Chinese until he came inside the Forbidden City. But in Japan started the contrasts because of monotheism; European monks had only one God, while the Japanese can have many.

Also, the connection with western people was before a quality but became a betrayal fearing, Catholics were accused to support foreigners against the local government.

With the Tokugawa daimyō was declared the isolation of Japan and the expelled foreigners and so the Catholic priests.

The worst sufferings were for Japanese Catholics.

In 1587 persecutions began against them. They became cruel and spread since 1614, to reach the climax in 1617 when not only the Japanese converts but also the missionaries themselves were affected.

The result was devastating and it can be said that in 1660, Catholics remained few, hidden, isolated from the Church, and without priests.

The story of Martin Scorsese's Silence movie starts from this moment.

The curiosities of Catholicism are over, the baptized are afraid that keep a faith as martyrs. The missionaries are gone, either home or killed.

A Jesuit, famous in Japan for Christian righteousness, chose a different direction; he was Father Cristóvão Ferreira, who converted to Buddhism.

The voice came to the West, leaving two of his Jesuit pupils unbelievable. Desiring to contradict the rumours, they decided to leave for Japan in his quest. They are Father Sebastião Rodrigues and Father Francisco Garupe, played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, respectively.

The initial scene is set in 1633. In a foggy atmosphere mountain, full of sad colours, many samurais are transferring prisoners, they are Christians. With the samurais there is a priest, he is devastated, he is annihilated by the torments observed; the guilt of the prisoners is simply they don’t want to repudiate God.

The priest is Father Ferreira, who has been living in Japan for years. With his work and dedication, he has helped convert thousands of people. The moment of the first scene is that of detachment. The moment in which he prefers to move away from a life devoted to doctrine, but he did for saving lives of suffering Christians. Without mercy they are tortured in the springs of hot water, it is a scene of great affliction and anguish.

From the long shot framing of this infernal scene, we arrive in Macau, the Portuguese colony in China, and the two Jesuits talking to their superior, they are forming "An army of two." The two priests leave for Nagasaki. To help them there is Kichijiro. Japanese, from the confused past, escaped to Macau.

The director describes Kichijiro at the beginning in a dual and controversial way. He is dirty, drunk, sickening, in every alley he vomits uncontrollably. It is a disgusting, unreliable person, but faith means believing also in sinners, even the most repugnant ones: "Jesus trusted worse people".

The comparison with Jesus is one of the Silence's constant aspects.

Scorsese uses God even as subjective shot. The boat trip to Japan is shot from above as though God himself was pushing it.

On landing in Japan near Nagasaki, the two Jesuits were impressed by the events. Despite the extermination, the expulsion of all missionaries, many Japanese Catholics continued to live in clandestine. They did not have priests, yet they maintained faith and rites. Thus the arrival of the priests was welcomed with joy and fear. Their appearance occurs in mystery, also scenic, with so much mist and torches as the exclusive source of light.

"How do you live by Christians when the danger is so great?" The Jesuits have so many doubts about the poor peasants. The question is, how is it possible, to be Catholics over the years without the assistance of the Church and of the priests?

But the peasants are certain of their devotion: "Even if we do not have a priest."

Pope Francis would love this type of faithful: theology and catechism were superficial, better, doctrine doesn't exist, but surely their faith is certain. Scorsese likes the same thought when he shows pain and religiousness in the farmers' close-ups.

The director tells, metaphorically, a chronicle of Catholic tribulations over time.

Japanese Catholics had a recent formation and lived in hiding. A situation similar there was during the time of nascent Christianity for the hostilities of imperial Rome.

Likewise, the Jesuits upon arrival in Japan were locked in a small hut and saw the surrounding world by small cracks, bordered by fog and mist. These conditions increase fear, the fear of being discovered at any time.

In the first part there is a profound relationship between the Jesuits - men of profound cultural and theological preparation - with ignorant peasants who are convinced of acting in the Catholic Church although they know nothing of theology: "Christ is not dead for good and for the beautiful ones ". Sebastião has a suspicion that peasants seek only a Catholic symbolism and they are not interested in doctrine.

But the exterminations persist. There was further persecution against poor and peasant populations.

In Nagasaki area many humble people approaching Catholicism for political use against daimyō and feudal politics, full of overwhelming taxes: "No taxes, no hard work." And Catholic peasants were not always as peaceful as the characters of Scorsese's film.

Others have fought hard to defend themselves, as they did in the same site of the Silence Jesuit landing.

We are on January 1, 1638 in Hara Castle, following a rabid rebellion; Catholics have barricaded themselves with an army composed mainly of naive Christian peasants, samurai and ronin. A well-trained army of fifty thousand armed was sent to the castle by the daimyō. The unsuccessful of the first assaults against untrained troops, creating confusion among soldiers and commanders, unbelieving how they could withstand a group of poor peasants. It was necessary to intervene with other troops, support by the Dutch with the terrible cannons, and a siege for about four months to overcome the resistance.

When the outer wall fell, though they no longer had food, they resisted another two days in pitiful conditions, because many ronin had decided to fight a war against them, no their war, like in the Seven Samurai

The two Jesuits decide to divide. Both, albeit separate, will face a terrible violence.

They are witnesses of torture on farmers willing to do everything to not repudiate their faith. Total dedication generates increasing respect in Jesuits. They do not understand their resistance in the face of death and torture. They are astonished by a vacuum. Like Elie Wiesel in The Shamgorod Process, they wonder why in tragic moments God is silent: "How can I explain His silence?"

The two priests are in the weak phase of their doctrine. They do not recognize the guilt of men. Nazism was not a divine product, but the fruit of our malice determined voluntarily in our free will. The same happened in Japan, no God, but men killed other people.

In a dramatic scene, Father Francisco Garupe prefers to be killed together with other followers, not to repudiate Catholicism, while Sebastião was forced to observe their torture.

In the second part, Scorsese shows the torments of Sebastião. Left alone, now he understands the Christians' pains.

And is there a debate in Scorsese, Sebastião has perhaps become Jesus? He is mirrored in the water before he can see his face and then the image becomes Jesus. Is he pride, vanity, or is he crazy? Perhaps Sebastião in his solitude, without the comfort of the Church, remains abandoned. When he is arrested, a personal battle begins. The abandonment is represented by God's silence; Sebastião becomes Jesus both in the mirror of water and as a proud martyr in the personal journey to the Calvary.

To bring the similarities closer, Sebastião will have his own Judah. Kichijiro for "thirty pieces" will betray his Jesuit friend and hand it over to the inquisitor.

The great comparison between Sebastião and the Japanese begins.

Why did daimyō oppress Catholics?

Scorsese responds by describing the inquisitor mercilessly. He derides him, insults him, representing him with a silly look, with difficulty in breathing, with strange poses, suffered for sweat and heat. In the reverse-shot with the Jesuit, the inquisitor was from a low angle as a stupid man.

The inquisitor's alter ego is his samurai: "We do not hate you" he faces Sebastião in a cautious and friendly manner; he speaks of Buddhism, of Christianity, of cultures, of distant worlds, of the future of Christianity in Japan. While he is talking to the samurai, Sebastião receives a ray of sunshine on his face. The fogs and the initial mists have disappeared. Is it a divine sign or the will of the director?

The samurai knows how to deal with an isolated man like Sebastião, proud, certain of his own religiosity, so frustrated to be believed in certain moments in Jesus. They use flattery, good manners: "You want to test my faith."

They know Sebastião cannot carry the burden of all humanity; he cannot sacrifice people for his own pride. The same thing happened to Father Ferreira. He was also a man of proven Christian righteousness, but in front of his loneliness and far from his world, he collapsed, the sufferings of so many people depended on his choice, an impossible burden.

The inquisitor finally gives him the opportunity to meet and talk to Father Ferreira. Sebastião never believed in the Master's abjure, for this reason he left for Japan. He always doubts that the Jesuit's missionary fervour can be renounced, and never believes that he embraced a religion considered pagan.

In the moment of their encounter, Sebastião understands he doesn’t be unique in the world. Ferreira is still himself, even though he now lives in a Buddhist temple: "Do you think I really look so different?"

In the zen garden of the temple, the clash and the encounter between the two men, opens in Sebastião a break. After the meeting with the teacher Sebastião feels refreshed, he found someone like him, and he has to behave like him.

So he will accept to deny God.

Sebastião has lost his pride, but many true Christians have been saved, avoiding a painful death: "They do not have your pride."

And in one scene in total silence, as the silence of God, Sebastião publicly abjure. Sebastiano's peace lasts for several years, first with Ferreira, then alone, along with his wife and Kichijiro.

Martin Scorsese is of Italian origin and has grown up as a Catholic, but many times he has been very far by the parents’ religion:

“My way has been, and is, Catholicism. After many years of thinking about other things, dabbling here and there, I am most comfortable as a Catholic. I believe in the tenets of Catholicism. I’m not a doctor of the church. I’m not a theologian who could argue the Trinity. I’m certainly not interested in the politics of the institution. But the idea of the Resurrection, the idea of the Incarnation, the powerful message of compassion and love – that’s the key. The sacraments, if you are allowed to take them, to experience them, help you stay close to God." (1)

He reads the history of the Japanese Catholics with his own eyes. Japanese Catholics ignored the meaning of the Trinity, and they were completely out of the “politics of the institution ". In their simplicity they listen to God speaking when in the same time Jesuits perceive, upset, only silence. But the world is the same, how is it possible to live the same experience but to have a different perception of God?

Cruel is the scene of an accepted martyrdom: "Thank you Lord for listening to my prayer" and the head, cut off by the executioner, rolls on the pavement.

In Japan, there is fear, represented by the figure of Kichijiro. It has shocking doubts, represented in the most violent forms because it does not hesitate to deny God and to flee while his family is slain because they refused. He will return to his way, the road of hope. And eventually, over the years, he will finally accept his debt for treason in the family.

Scorsese: "But I think that the most fascinating and intriguing of all the characters is Kichijiro. At times, when we were making the picture, I thought, “Maybe he’s Jesus, too.” In Matthew, Jesus says: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” You cross paths with the person in the street who repels you – that’s Jesus. Of course, Kichijiro is constantly weakening, and constantly causing damage to himself and to many others, including his family. But then, at the end, who’s there with Rodrigues? Kichijiro. He was, it turns out, Rodrigues’s great teacher. His mentor. His guru, so to speak. That’s why Rodrigues thanks him at the end." (1)

Scorsese is right, and create the character exactly is thought. Kichijiro is the most affectionate character. If the Jesuits have in their past, years of severe theology studies and they have built a strong personality, Kichijiro has genuineness and a human authenticity; he looks almost innocent even in front of his cruelty.

Among the many defects of the two Jesuits, pride is the most striking; again Scorsese:

"Now, if you do have the calling, how do you deal with your own pride? If you’re able to perform a ritual in which transubstantiation is enacted, then yes – you’re very special. However, you have to have something else as well. Based on what I saw and experienced, a good priest, in addition to having that talent, that ability, always has to think of his parishioners first. So the question is: how does that priest get past his ego? His pride? I wanted to make that film."

There are so many examples of people ready to sacrifice himself to save other people.

Yet the ego, the pride, especially of Sebastião, is the centre of history. Among many characters Sebastião is always visible, with so many impulses of uncertainty or exaggerated certainty. He has an inside duality not conceivable for a man of faith, but it is the duality required by Scorsese Director wants to understand, wants to exalt fear, the fear of living with pride.

The actor Andrew Garfield helps director. Garfield specializes in religious roles in 2016: Jesuit in Silence and fervent member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge.

Scorsese's film closes in 1682 with a Dutch voice-over, who tells the story of a Jesuit. It will be necessary to wait for the second half of the nineteenth century for the return of some priests and the rebirth the Catholicism in Japan. "Japanese Catholics are about 450,000, while non-Japanese, so immigrants are just over five hundred thousand. The Catholic population of Nagasaki in the last forty years has suffered a slight decline. In fact, it has gone from 76,000 in 1965 to 65,000 in 2007." (2)

It is not a large number for a population of one hundred three million people.

But seventeenth-century martyrs will not be the last for Japanese Catholics.

On August 9, 1945, an American plane launched the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. It was a massacre.

Catholicism was born and developed in Nagasaki; its Catholic community was the largest and the most alive. There is a deep link between the film and the atomic event: Nagasaki and the province are the setting of Silence.

With the atomic bomb, the Japanese Catholic society was destroyed for the second time since the seventeenth-century oppression.

An important voice of denunciation was screamed by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, who asked why the second bomb was launched in Nagasaki among many Japan town to choose? The reason for the Cardinal is easy:

“Indeed, in Nagasaki, in only one day, were killed two-thirds of the small but lively Japanese Catholic communities. A community almost eliminated with violence twice in three centuries.

In 1945 it was for a mysteriously concentrated act of war on it. Three centuries ago for a terrible persecution, very similar what happened during the Roman Empire against the early Christians." (3)

Scorsese recounts the events of the sixteenth century, but tells us about the victims of the Church in hiding in ancient Rome, of what happened in World War II until today, where Catholicism provokes other martyrs in many parts of the world. There is still another silence, but this time not from God but from the men, indifferent, silent and scared for lack of courage.

(1) https://laciviltacattolica.com/vol-1-no-1/silence-interview-with-martin-scorsese/

(2) http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/interviste/2008/278q06a1.html

(3) http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/173602.html