So I was finally able to watch this movie and I tell you, oh boy. It's almost 3 hours long! It actually felt quite challenging to watch.
It's kinda not what a practicing Catholic might like but it does have it's good points. Let me tell you what I think about the film and their martyrdom in Catholicism.
If you haven't watched the movie yet, well then this serves as your warning. SPOILER ALERT. 😆
💠 Trailer & Summary
Two priests go to Japan to find their mentor. They encounter dangerous situations because of their religious activities. In the end, one of them meet the man and everything goes downhill from there.
💠 The Main Cast
Here are the notable cast of the movie.
◙ Andrew Garfield plays Sebastião Rodrigues.
One of the Portuguese Jesuit priests who set out to look for his mentor Ferreira in Japan. His experience is what the entire movie is about.
◙ Adam Driver plays Francisco Garupe.
The other priest who wanted to look for and "save" Ferreira.
◙ Yōsuke Kubozuka plays Kichijirō.
A Japanese Christian who served as a guide to the two priests.
◙ Liam Neeson plays Cristóvão Ferreira.
The man the two priests came looking for. Someone who already works for the Japanese after apostatizing.
💠 Story & Character Review: Reel vs. Real Life
As usual, before I watched the film I did not check on reviews or any articles but I did watch the trailer. I even forget where I found out about it. I think it was recommended on some YT vid I watched, like they mentioned it at some point but that's the extent of what I know about this movie.
I thought it was good to watch this to learn what kind of film it is. Like, come on, there's not a lot of great Catholic themed Hollywood movies out there you know. Most are horror films and don't even put Christians in a favorable light.
It eventually gives a bad rep to the Japanese Catholic martyrs, priests and kinda to the religion itself. Not because of Martin Scorsese and the other scriptwriter but the source material itself is the problem. But hey, it can lead people to self-reflection, I think that's the only thing good that comes out of watching it.
So anyway, here's where we separate the real from reel.
Let me break down the things in the story that needs to be talked about. Just like what I did with the movie Constantine (review here: DC's Constantine and the Catholic Doctrine: Reel Vs. Real Life), here's my take on it.
👉 The Silence of God
Based on the trailer, the main thing I wondered about was why a priest would even think God is silent. Since becoming a practicing Catholic I know it is impossible for a priest or nun to not even hear God much more than once or twice in their lives. I'd like to call this movie's premise a lie because the Lord is not silent at all to those who truly know Him!
A person will always have random moments of "hearing" the Lord when they are doing all of the following:
- Establish a daily prayer life (rosary, Angelus/Regina Coeli, 3 o'clock prayer, Divine Mercy Chaplet, etc.)
- Praying everyday in the Adoration Chapel (at least 30 mins.), in front of the Blessed Sacrament
- Daily mass
- Frequent confession (weekly is best!) after reading an Examination of Conscience
God would certainly be speaking to you at certain points in your life when you do the above and more! You will even experience what I'd call small miracles. Unexpected things will happen that would not have happened if you weren't close to the Lord! I can attest to this as I have experienced such since my renewal of faith in Lent 2023. What more if the man is a priest or a nun!?
Fr. Rodrigues celebrating mass | source
When you are a clergyman, it is impossible for you not to hear the Lord once or twice in a year, or maybe even in a month! Priests are quite close to God so they can definitely hear Him more often than us who are non-clergy. If a lay person can hear the Lord by doing all of the above, what more if they're a priest or nun? Unless the priest/nun is evil or lukewarm and never prays except during mass indeed they'd most probably be deaf to God.
So, upon watching the movie, it indeed shows the lead character (Rodrigues) sometimes complaining about not hearing God especially during hard times. He only supposedly hears the Lord when he was about to apostatize (renounce the Lord and the faith). Like, seriously? Those words are clearly what something the devil would say. And this shows the flaws of the storyteller or perhaps the shallowness of his knowledge of Catholicism. Thus his characterization of priests is actually lacking and, if I may say so, incorrect.
So the question is, did the voice Rodrigues hear before apostatizing come from God or no? Here's how to know the answer. Watch this catechism from a priest on one way to discern if God is indeed speaking to you or not:
👉 The Persecuted Christians of Japan
This 2016 movie's story shows us the hardships of Catholicism in Japan including the Christian persecution in the 17th century. Watching the suffering of the people because of their beliefs is hard but I commend and admire them! Not everyone can do what they did! Not a lot of people would suffer and die for Jesus even to this day. But then towards the end, the film eventually makes viewers wonder if they truly understood what they were dying for.
What strikes me was what the former Fr. Ferreira said: The Japanese do not truly understand the concept of God or Catholicism. And I'm like, really? This is what comes out of a Christian apostate?
And here lies the difference between what a practicing Catholic knows and what a nominal Christian (storyteller) understands. Because of what the apostatized priest character said about why the Christian religion wasn't taking root well in Japan it makes the viewer doubt the martyrdom of those who died for the faith.
Assuming that's so, then there might have been a lack of understanding of the Japanese culture by the Jesuit priest missionaries. Or perhaps it had to do with the language barrier too.
👉 The film shows the point of view of someone who doesn't truly understand Catholicism.
Because of the above discrepancies with the teachings of Catholicism, I thought I'd look more into the story behind this movie.
And so checking online, I found an article about the writer of Silence (the book was first adapted to a screenplay and made into a movie in 1971). Shūsaku Endō apparently incorporated his own beliefs and thoughts of Catholicism into the characters. He claimed to be a reluctant Catholic because his mom had him baptized when he was 11 or 12. Even if he had grown to accept it, he did not understand everything about it for many years.
From the same article I learned that after the martyrdom of many Catholics in Japan, the remaining ones kept hidden for 240 years! The Kakure (crypto-Christians) kept meeting in secret and worshipping God without any Bible or any book of liturgy.
Unfortunately in the late 19th century, it was discovered that these people have indeed survived but their faith became a syncretism of Catholicism and the many religions of the country. When a Catholic Church was finally built around that time, these people refused to correct their ways even to this day!
👉 Confessing the Same Sins Again and Again
Now let's talk about one of the Japanese Christians in the movie, Kichijiro. He did something terrible that it's become a habitual mortal sin! What a shocker.
The guy kept confessing the same grave sin over and over! 😱 Like, is he even serious about repentance? Betraying people and then apostatizing, then confessing and then apostatizing again!!! That's not how confession works! We don't intentionally commit sins just because we can confess them again anyway. NOOO! That is sacrilege dear reader! And sacrilege is another mortal sin!
After what Liam Neeson's character said, it comes to mind clearly then that perhaps the concept of the Sacrament of Confession is not understood well by some of the Japanese Catholics of that era. Like, for real, why would anyone refuse martyrdom?! Why would he do the same horrific mortal sin of apostasy over and over instead of just getting it over with his life to be in Heaven? Ah but indeed, there are many people who also love life on Earth more than eternal life with God.
Then of course I thought of my life. I too have my own sins that I keep repeating even if I try my best not to do them. Some just keeps happening despite attempts of avoiding to do it. However I noticed that one of the bad habits I have is finally improving, after two years!!! 😅 It's been happening less and less now thanks to the graces from continuous frequent confession and daily prayer! Alleluia!
Mine aren't as grave as his sins but even small (venial) sins are still something we should avoid doing. (Rev 21:27) Once we have gotten rid of our many mortal sins and have stopped doing any, we work on completely getting rid of doing the venial sins next. And boy oh boy, I thought it would be easy but it isn't! 😢 Thank you God for Your infinite mercy and love!!!
For a priestly insight on what I'd call persistent sins, here's a short video. Fr. Tom Dillon shares what he thinks about Kichijiro and talks about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. :
To know more about this sacrament and sins, look for online content from priests or you can read the following posts of mine:
- The Devil Rejoices Whenever People Do Not Confess To Priests
- Non-Catholic Christians Also Confess to Priests or Pastors?
- Should We Still Go to Confession Just For Those Venial Sins?
- Who Says It's Boring or Scary To Go to Confession?
- Weekly Sacrament of Confession? | 3 Misconducts to Avoid!
👉 What Can Despair Do to You?
After a day or so since I watched the film, I have come to a conclusion on why priests during the Japanese Christian persecution would apostatize and leave the priesthood. This was never vocalized or shown in the movie at all, but for the benefit of the doubt, I will say it "might be" implied but that's just me.
There is a point early in the movie when Rodrigues was struggling with despair. When you've lost hope in your mind and heart you will definitely just give up and give in to the whispers of the devil. Yep. That's definitely what happened to him and Ferreira at the end of their persecution. I know because I've had my fair share of despairing thoughts last year (which I didn't know were such at the time). It's not a nice ordeal to go through! Only with the grace of God did I realize what I did and finally understood what I was feeling.
Again, when someone is finally in despair (meaning they have lost hope in humanity or thinks anything good/positive would never happen in any situation) it will cause you to fail in your Christian duties and responsibilities.
Don't ever ask to know what it feels like, it isn't for the weak-willed. I was curious to know what it was when someone mentioned the word despair to me during my hospitalization. And so most likely that's why I eventually experienced it months later. And sadly I failed to do what I should have done as a Catholic because of it. Bummer but lesson learned!
2025 is a Jubilee Year. We are called to be pilgrims of hope! So then, let us never despair, ever. It will never ever happen as long as we always stay close to God and cling so much harder to Him during our hardships!
A church standee I saw with some Jubilee Year details.
💠 Rating
The R rating is very apt because of the subject and of course the violence and gore.
If I was to rate the movie, I'd give it an 8 out of 10 stars for being morally challenging and would cause some religious self reflection. However there's really a flaw with the priest characterizations.
In terms of Catholic doctrine, I'd give it a 2 out of 5 stars. Why? Many things need to be explained by a priest especially if the person watching is a nominal Catholic. So many people are like that. Tsk tsk. They might believe what the characters say in the movie. Haha. People from other Christian sects/denominations would have a field day again when they watch this. 😂
Anyway, what about you? Care to share your thoughts on this?
