Silence speaks volumes

Martin Scorsese is pretty well known for making proficient movies that do not make audiences comfortable. To wit: his intense psycho-thriller Cape Fear; his indulgent and grossly excessive Wolf of Wall Street; and even his religiously contentious The Last Temptation of Christ. The guy could direct directions to the nearest corner store and make it controversial. And I'd still watch it.

Some say that his movies always have a religious theme anyway and so much of that is about the unrepentant nature of people, about sin and sanctity, and about the battle between ideologies. So, now we are presented with one of his films where religion is not just an actual theme: it's the setting, the plot, hell – it's practically a character.

Silence is purportedly three decades in the making – Scorsese's own passion project – and so it's not surprising that the filmmaker's filmmaker pulled no punches in depicting the story of a 17th century Portuguese Jesuit priest trying to find his lost mentor and striving to convert the Buddhist masses there.

Here, Father SebastiÃo Rodrigues (a very Charlton Heston-esque Andrew Garfield) and Father Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) are two Catholic missionaries assigned the task of travelling to the Pacific island nation to find Father CristóvÃo Ferreira (Neeson). Ferreira has been missing for years but his two younger apprentices have faith that he's not only still alive but still a vital instrument of the church.

As you might imagine, the priests are not entirely welcome. Rodrigues befriends some but finds his work stymied by culture, by translation, and by nature itself. Silence isn't just a good mantra for audience members in an open theatre: it's the place where our main character finds his God. Rather, it's where he finds his God isn't. In his struggles, he pleads and prays for answers to some big questions yet finds precious few being offered back.

Scorsese is a great director to tackle a story about a man of the cloth having the ultimate crisis of faith. I cannot say exactly how thankful I was that Garfield had the lead here and not Leonardo DiCaprio, as has been Scorsese's wont for the worst part of a decade. All of the performers here seem to know a great deal about subtlety, inflection and depth of character. They know about silence and how best to use it to further the performance and the film. Most importantly, they know how to act naturally so that it doesn't look forced like someone is obviously acting (see DiCaprio in any movie ever for examples). Sweet relief!

This is a praiseworthy film that warrants further study. It's about suffering and sacrifice. It's about glory and agony. It's about the entrenchment of belief and the futility of conversion. It's about human nature and spirituality. It's beautiful, meditative and yes, it's long but feels more like you've stepped into a safe place where you can examine your own faith and decide on what you believe in more: God or the green earth.

Martin Scorsese might be criticized for proselytizing because he once headed toward a monastic profession in his own life. Here, I find myself pleased to have my spiritual path left for me to decide but my devotion to cinema has been stoked to epiphanic levels.