Current Events > Just watched Silence. Can't stop thinking about it.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I had no idea this movie was going to be this thought provoking. I thought it was going to be a thriller like Shutter Island. Instead I ended up watching a masterpiece. It explored so many ideas such as colonialism, isolationism, morality vs faith, inequality.

From the get-go, the cinematography is phenomenal. The dreary smoke plagues the coastline evokes feelings of embers and fire, and subsequently images of Hell. However, the smoke is also an indication of the ambiguity of perception, smoke distorts things. As the movie progresses, and the smoke subsides, Japan begins to reveal itself as more of a pragmatic nation and not the brutal Hell it is initially depicted as. Much like the main character, he initially views things as black and white, and faith will remediate despair. But, as the movie progresses, his faith is repeatedly tested, and his sense of morality and instincts come into a direct clash with faith.

The movie did a great job of keeping the villager's motives ambiguous. When it was revealed why they converted to Christianity and what it represented for them, it kind of hit me with a "oh yea" moment. The priests weren't really converting them, much so promising them paradise. There was no teachings of Christianity. I wouldn't say it was exploitation because the main character had no intention to use them for a coup or extract funds. His motives came from the belief that he could bring them into paradise.

Anyways though. Phenomenal movie.
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I really liked the movie too. I also think about it every now and then.

I just thought it was funny how the Japanese would literally torture anyone who was involved and then be like "Look Christianity just doesn't work here." As if they had even given people the option to really try in.
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billcom6 posted...

I just thought it was funny how the Japanese would literally torture anyone who was involved and then be like "Look Christianity just doesn't work here." As if they had even given people the option to really try in.

It really wasn't working though. Christianity was only reaching the impoverished and uneducated who saw it as a means to have food on the table. They had no idea what Christianity even entailed. To them, it was a spiritual religion that had to do with nature and the Sun that meshed with their current beliefs in Shinto. In a way, it was more of a spiritual manifestation of their disapproval of how their new hegemonic government treats them. To easily convert signals the degree of their poverty, and in addition signals their implicit protest.

And, the torturing was somewhat justified in a pragmatic sense from the government. They had just gone through a bloody civil war, and foreign invaders under the guise of missionaries are implanting their doctrines in ideals in the people which could lead to another civil war. It was their only way to break the priests and have them renounce their religion, and in a ripple effect, cause their followers to renounce as well.
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Marty Scorsayzee don't play.
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Is it like Valhalla Rising?
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DoctorVader posted...

Is it like Valhalla Rising?

Never seen it, but no.
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Yeah. Really intense. Fantastic movie imo.
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It's a fantastic film. I'm glad I watched it.

DoctorVader posted...

Is it like Valhalla Rising?

Definitely not.
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I didnt like it

It was like a malick film without the joy of malick
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