Silence is a 2016 epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Jay Cocks and Scorsese. It is based on the 1966 novel by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, marking the third film adaptation of the novel. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Tadanobu Asano, Ciarán Hinds and Liam Neeson. The plot follows two 17th-century Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Edo period Japan via Macau to locate their missing mentor and spread Catholic Christianity. It is the third of Scorsese's films about religious figures struggling with challenges of faith, following The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Kundun (1997).
The pre-production phase of the filmmaking for Silence went through a cycle of over two decades of setbacks and reassessments. After filming of The Wolf of Wall Street concluded in January 2013, Scorsese committed to following it up with Silence. On April 19, 2013, Scorsese indicated that he would begin production on Silence in 2014. Irwin Winkler was then announced as a producer, as were Randall Emmett and George Furla, who would provide financing through their company Emmett/Furla Films. Soon thereafter, planning was made for the film to be shot in Taiwan.
A long-time passion project for Scorsese, which he had developed for over 25 years, Silence premiered in Rome on November 29, 2016, and was released in the United States on December 23, 2016. Though it received critical acclaim, being selected as one of the top ten films of the year by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute and being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, it was a box office bomb, grossing $24 million against its $50 million budget.
Plot
In 1633, in Japan, Jesuit priest Cristóvão Ferreira is forced to watch as several Catholic priests are tortured to death for refusing to renounce their faith.
In 1640, in Macau, another Jesuit priest, Alessandro Valignano, receives news that Ferreira has apostatized. In disbelief, Ferreira's Portuguese pupils, young Jesuit priests Sebastião Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe, set off to find him, guided by Kichijirō, a Japanese fisherman stranded in Macau who, although able to speak Portuguese, vehemently denies being Christian.
Arriving in a Japanese village called Tomogi, Rodrigues and Garupe find local Christians worshipping in secrecy in fear of "the Inquisitor." The villagers tell them that Kichijirō is actually a Christian who renounced his faith to save himself before the rest of his family were put to death by immolation; Rodrigues takes Kichijirō’s confession to grant him absolution.
When government officials arrive in the village to ferret out hidden Christians, they take four hostages, including Kichijirō, and force them to apostatize by stepping on a fumi-e, a carved image of Christ, which they all reluctantly do, and spitting on a cross, which only Kichijirō can force himself to do. The other three hostages are crucified on the shore and left to drown; their bodies are cremated so they cannot be given a Christian burial.
Garupe then leaves for Hirado Island and Rodrigues for Gotō Island, which is Kichijirō’s home. Kichijirō finds and hides Rodrigues, who again takes his confession, but then betrays Rodrigues to the authorities, who imprison him in Nagasaki with a number of Japanese Christians. After several of them refuse to step on a fumi-e, one of them is beheaded. When Kichijirō is imprisoned with them, Rodrigues reluctantly hears his confession again; Kichijirō is then released after he steps on the fumi-e.
Rodrigues is forced by the Inquisitor to watch as four Christians who have renounced their faith before the Inquisitor are drowned. He is shocked to see an emaciated Garupe with them; Garupe has been told he can save the condemned Christians by apostatizing, but he refuses to do so and instead swims out to try to save a drowning woman. The guards hold him underwater and he himself drowns. Rodrigues' faith in God is shaken.
Rodrigues is taken to meet Ferreira, who has assimilated into Japanese society. Ferreira, after being tortured, apostatized to save fellow Christians, and he now believes that Christianity has no place in Japan. He tells Rodrigues that he has been told to convince Rodrigues to abandon his faith. One night, Rodrigues is taken to watch five Christians being tortured. Ferreira tells him that they have already apostatized many times but that their torture will continue until Rodrigues also abandons his faith. Rodrigues hears what he believes is the voice of Jesus, giving him permission to step on the fumi-e, and he does.
Rodrigues works with Ferreira. The Inquisitor has tasked them with aiding him in his efforts to identify Christian images hidden in Japanese homes and to prevent Dutch traders from smuggling Christian paraphernalia into Japan. Rodrigues takes a Japanese name and wife.
Despite having already apostatized, Rodrigues is forced by government officials to give repeated vows of apostasy and to submit to periodic examinations. Kichijirō, now a servant to Rodrigues, again asks Rodrigues to hear his confession, and Rodrigues does so in secret after again hearing the voice of Jesus, who assures Rodrigues that he was not silent as Rodrigues thought, but also suffered for those who were killed. Kichijirō is taken away in 1667 after being caught wearing an amulet containing a Christian image.
Rodrigues lives out the remainder of his life in Japan. After his death, he is given a traditional Buddhist funeral. His wife is allowed to place an approved offering in his coffin to ward off evil spirits, but while doing so she also slips into his hand a tiny crudely made crucifix that was given to him when he first arrived in Tomogi.
Cast
Andrew Garfield as Sebastião Rodrigues (based on Giuseppe Chiara), who later in the film goes by the name Okada San'emon. In interviews, Garfield has spoken of his extensive year-long preparation for the role with James Martin, a Jesuit priest working in New York. Garfield detailed that the preparation with Martin included extensive research and immersion in the Jesuit lifestyle and frame of mind, which the producers felt was essential to the accuracy of the film. Garfield reported losing forty pounds to play the role, following the rules of abstention which were outlined to him by Martin. Adam Driver as Francisco Garupe. Both Driver and Garfield went through a seven-day Jesuit silent prayer retreat arranged with the help of the Jesuit scholar Martin to prepare them for their roles in the film. Garfield, in an interview with Stephen Colbert, stated that both actors felt emaciated in preparing for their roles, and that Driver lost close to fifty pounds in preparation to play his role in the film. Tadanobu Asano as The Interpreter Ciarán Hinds as the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano and the voice of Jesus Liam Neeson as the Jesuit Cristóvão Ferreira, who later in the film goes by the name Sawano Chūan. Shinya Tsukamoto as Mokichi. Tsukamoto felt that the relation of his character to Rodrigues was of central importance to the thematic content of the film. He adopted a lifestyle of fasting and abstention from social interaction throughout the production of the film. He reported that he and Garfield tried to stay in character on the sets even between takes. Issey Ogata as Inoue Masashige (based on the 17th-century Grand Councilor (ōmetsuke)) Yōsuke Kubozuka as Kichijirō Nana Komatsu as Mónica (Haru) Ryo Kase as João (Chokichi) Katsuo Nakamura as Monk Yoshi Oida as Ichizo Béla Baptiste as Dieter Albrecht (based on Engelbert Kaempfer, a chronicler who traveled with the Dutch East India Company)
Production Development In an interview with America Magazine in December 2016, Scorsese stated that he first read Shūsaku Endō's novel Silence in 1989, when he was invited by Akira Kurosawa to Japan to play the part of Vincent van Gogh in Kurosawa's film Dreams (1990). Scorsese obtained the film rights soon afterwards.
Scorsese considered Silence a "passion project": it had been in development since 1990, two years after the release of his film The Last Temptation of Christ, which also carried strongly religious themes."Silence release date sets Martin Scorsese's passion project up for Oscars ". The Independent. September 27, 2016. When asked why he retained interest in the project for over 26 years, Scorsese said:As you get older, ideas go and come. Questions, answers, loss of the answer again and more questions, and this is what really interests me. Yes, the cinema and the people in my life and my family are most important, but ultimately as you get older, there's got to be more ... Silence is just something that I'm drawn to in that way. It's been an obsession, it has to be done ... it's a strong, wonderful true story, a thriller in a way, but it deals with those questions.In 2009, with the production beginning to coalesce, Scorsese and a production crew went to Nagasaki, Japan, visiting the original sites that served as the setting for Endō's novel. Additional location scouting was conducted in Canada. However, Silence entered a state of development hell soon afterwards, and Scorsese decided to work on Shutter Island and Hugo instead. In December 2011, Scorsese stated that Silence would be his next film. By March, although he originally put it on the back burner and consequently dropped out, Scorsese signed back on to The Wolf of Wall Street and opted to direct it ahead of Silence. However, at the time, Scorsese's publicist stated that Silence would come first. In May, the film picked up another producer in the recently revived Cecchi Gori Pictures, which placed the project first on its slate of upcoming films. Cecchi Gori was involved in pre-production for Silence, but years of unrelated legal disputes had interrupted its association to the film.
After filming of The Wolf of Wall Street concluded in January 2013, Scorsese committed to following it up with Silence. On April 19, 2013, it was announced that Scorsese would begin production on Silence in 2014, after a reputed 23-year wait. Irwin Winkler was announced as a producer the same day, as were Randall Emmett and George Furla, who would finance the production through their company Emmett/Furla Films. Paul Breuls' Corsan Films was also reportedly funding the project. Additionally, it was announced that the film would be shot in Taiwan.
Producer Irwin Winkler stated the choice to film in Taiwan was due to lower costs. "[The movie] was very, very expensive, and it was budgeted, because it takes place in 1670 in Japan. We got lucky and found out about Taipei, and in and around Taipei and Taiwan, we found great, great locations. The prices were very cheap, and we were able to make it for a price." Winkler disclosed that the tight budget forced many of the cast and crew, including himself, to work for minimum pay: "And all the actors, Liam Neeson, Adam Driver, everybody worked for scale. Marty worked for scale, I worked for under scale. We gave back money." James Martin, a Jesuit priest and published Catholic scholar, as well as Catholic scholar Liam Brockey, worked closely with the filmmakers to ensure an accurate portrayal of the Jesuits.
Legal claims Scorsese's complex filmmaking commitments to multiple film projects resulted in an early legal challenge before filming of Silence could be initiated. In August 2012, Cecchi Gori Pictures sued Scorsese over an alleged breach of contract agreements related to Silence. According to the company, in 1990 Scorsese signed a written agreement to direct Silence. Scorsese was supposed to shoot the film following 1997's Kundun, and Cecchi Gori Pictures had apparently invested more than $750,000 for this purpose. However, Scorsese chose to make Bringing Out the Dead, Gangs of New York and The Aviator first.