***
Upon hearing that their teacher has apostatised, two young Jesuit priests travel to Japan to find him at a time when Christians were being persecuted within the country. There, they will find their faith will be tested to the utmost in the face of cruelty and torture.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I went to the cinema only to find that, half way through, I was more aware of the aching in my bum and my stiff legs than what was happening on screen. Unfortunately, this was the case with Silence, Martin Scorsese's incredibly long foray into religious fervour. Following the desperate journey of two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, both sporting wonderfully thick heads of Disney prince hair), this biblically lengthy movie combines the shocking treatment of Japanese Christians with the ridiculous, including a truly irritating character whose reappearances on screen left more than a few members of my audience groaning. Filled with Garfield's unanswered pleas to god, drawn out sequences in which men sit around and talk, and elongated shots of the countryside, it's safe to say that (spoiler alert) by the time God spoke, I was more than a little fed up. In fact, I was quite bored.
So, why a three-star film then? Because despite the numerous things I found infuriating and laughable, I believe that there are still things to admire within the film. For a start, it looks brilliant. Using Japan as the beautiful yet terrifying backdrop, Scorsese has created something of a walking tour of the island, picking out the most serene of locations and capturing them effortlessly, whether in mist, rain or sunshine. Similarly, the framing of certain sequences is particularly striking, none so much as when Rodrigues looks through the bars of his prison to watch his fellow Christians. There are countless close-ups to contrast the sweeping landscape shots, too, and an effective use of sound. Garfield does well too, as does Neeson, but Adam Driver is given too little screen time for his character to truly be an effective part of the story. A shame - the hints we received from his limited appearances looked promising.
It's not that Silence is a bad film, it's just that all the good things about it are swallowed up within the hideously extensive run time, and there's only so many times someone can watch a man pray to a silent god before they start to fidget. As lengthy and, in places, as tedious as a Sunday service - you truly need the patience of a saint to not get bored about half way through.
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