“You know what’s nerve wracking? Going to a movie with a 2:41 run time, but you only get 3 hours of free parking. I ain’t paying five bucks on parking right now. I ran out of the theater the second the movie finished. I prolly should have just skipped that whole last hour or so.
Two words that will shoot a movie up my priority list? Martin Scorsese. Well there’s a lot of “”two words”” but those are the relevant ones, seeing as how he wrote (with help) and directed Silence. The film is about two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who sneak into Japan during the 17th century in search of their mentor (Liam Neeson) who disappeared. If you’re not up on your history (as I was not prior to seeing this film), during that period, Christianity was banned in Japan. It was a time of violence and persecution and prolly a good time to rethink your profession if you were a priest.
Remember how I said the movie was nearly three hours long? Yeah, the movie was neartly three hours long, and easily divided into three acts. The first act/hour, I found fascinating. I attended Catholic school from Pre-K to 12th, so I heard lots of stories about martrys and saints and the like. But hearing about them in a paragraph or two and seeing their tribulations on screen in detail are two different things. I also liked how it really challenged some of the concepts of faith, and got me thinking. How important are icons and imagery? Do you denounce your faith to save others? What actions set the best example? Kinda unsettling stuff that has no real answer.
But then the movie kept going. And going. And going. It was no Energizer Bunny unless the Energizer Bunny was on a bunch of downers. I feel like the last two hours could have been condensed a bit somehow, since we were eventually just rehashing the same themes. Our cast was fantastic, but I don’t think anyone would doubt those guys. And of course my love for Scorsese still stands, but this isn’t gonna be one I remember as fondly as his others.
Silence – \m/ \m/ \n”