Erica L.

Acuna AC 11 PHIS 101

SILENCE
A Film Synopsis

Silence is a historical story of two Jesuit priests namely Fr. Rodrigues and Fr. Garrupe

who is searching for their mentor, Fr. Ferreira in Japan where Christianity is banned during the

17th century. Fr. Ferreira went to Japan to do missionaries but he never returned. Fr. Ferreira

experienced and saw persecution and acts of torture inflicted. Ferreira then commits apostasy and

renounces God in public.

As Fr. Rodriguez and Fr. Garrupe went to Japan to find their mentor through Macau, they

meet ​Kichijiro, a Japanese man who knows a lot of Christian people who prays secretly. With

the help of Kichijiro, the two Jesuits priests have arrived in Japan. Days and weeks had passed,

they ​slowly builds dread as they get closer to figuring out what happened their predecessor.

Christians are no longer allowed into Japan following the orders of Inquisitor Inoue, a

government official.

Due to Kichijiro’s betrayal, Fr. Rodriguez gets captured by Japanese officials.

Eventually, Father Rodrigues goes through a similar experience and witnessing the torture of

others. As well as Fr. Garrupe who died from drowning. Rodrigues realizes he has been sitting

by uselessly while this torture was going on. An image of Christ is brought out and Rodrigues is

asked to trample on it. He was already apostatized and now given the same fate as Fr. Ferreira.

Fr. Rodrigues spent his life living in Japan as Buddhist. As time passes by, he died and

was cremated by means of burning. But while he is being burned, he is clutching a crucifix in

his hand during his death symbolizes how strong he is to accept God throughout his death.
Erica L. Acuna AC 11 PHIS 101

SILENCE
Movie Reflection

“I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence? ​Or am I just praying to nothing?

Nothing. Because you are not there​. '' A line which was spoken by Fr. Rodrigues in the movie

Silence in 2016. Silence was a great and inspirational movie to all. A must watch movie that will

certainly moved your hearts and think of how far are you going to give up your faith in Him.

S​ilence is a 2016 historical period drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and it is originally

based novel by Shūsaku Endō.

Isn’t a sad thing that people punish their own kind just because of their differences and

belief that Christianity should be outlawed. We are all living in this world. We have the right to

live and have our own differences and at the same time we have our own will on what we wanted

to believe and what we wanted to do. We need to prior understand the culture in a way that each

of the people will be respected and treated equally. I was very devastated when Japanese let the

Christian prisoners to be apostatize by trampling just because they don’t accept Christians. But I

was glad when some of the men refuse to trample and instead are sent back to their prison. This

only means that they value God more than anything else. This only shows that Japanese people

wanted to be inferior by means of apostatizing the Christians so that the religion will only be

Buddhist.

Most people would probably expected the movie in a way that Fr. Rodrigues himself will

not commit apostasy. But it’s not. Some people might think that Fr. Rodrigues became weak and

his faith in God is slowly fading. Did Fr. Rodrigues given up his faith completely? What had

made him decide to trample on the image of Christ? But for me it’s the other way around. There
Erica L. Acuna AC 11 PHIS 101

were times when Fr. Rodrigues heard Jesus speaking to him: “I was there when you suffered.”

And when Rodrigues was hesitant about trampling on His image, he heard Jesus’ voice, giving

him permission to do so. I admire his courage and passion as he fought for what he believed was

right. “ Come ahead, now. It's alright. Step on me. I understand your pain. I was born into this

world to share men's pain. I carried this cross for your pain. Your life is with me now. Step.”

This is a one of the heartbreaking dialogues I've found in the movie. This is the voice of God

talking to Fr. Rodrigues. Among the lines in the movie, this one catches my attention. This line

gives me a relief of the hardships or burdens I have in my life. Like Fr. Rodrigues, this voice of

God feels like a burden was lifted because of the great faith he has. Isn’t great to hear our God’s

voice remembering us, giving us relief and guidance throughout the difficulties we face in our

everyday lives?

The movie silence has a very deep meaning or message that the director wants to portray

to his viewers. The movie has indeed a heavy atmosphere but it certainly has a lot of lessons to

learn. The film is ​so intent on simply showing us things and letting us consider their meaning.

Before, Japanese is against Christianity but look at it today. ​We may be different in terms of

culture, tradition, and religion but the important thing today is that we are now accepting and

respecting each others differences. And ​Why is this movie entitled Silence? It is because silent

isn’t empty. It’s full of answers. God suffered beside us. He was never silent. Because it was in

the silence that we heard His voice. God’s silence in response to our prayers is perhaps a greater

test. The only question that the movie left us is that: How strong you are to fight for your faith

in God? This movie reminded us of far are we going to have strong faith in Him despite when

our spiritual journey is at its darkest.God may seem silent but I believe God suffered beside us.