Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' explores faith and doubt in 17th-century Japan

Martin Scorsese's film 'Silence', released in Italian theaters on January 12, 2017, is a dramatic spiritual reflection on the silence of God in the face of human suffering. Based on Shusaku Endo's 1966 novel, the screenplay was co-written by Scorsese and Jay Cocks. The story follows two Portuguese Jesuit priests in 1640 who travel to Japan to find their missing mentor, Father Ferreira, and continue their apostolic mission. Japan, a Buddhist nation, resists Christian conversion, leading to persecution and violence. The film explores the crisis of faith experienced by missionaries when confronted with the silence of God. Scorsese, a Catholic, received a copy of the novel in 1988 from Archbishop Paul Moore. The director spent 25 years developing the screenplay, viewing it as a personal journey of reflection. The film features a trusted crew including Italian production designer Dante Ferretti. The cast includes Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson as Ferreira, alongside Japanese actors Tadanobu Asano and Shinya Tsukamoto. Although set in Japan, 'Silence' was entirely filmed in Taiwan for its similar landscapes and climate. The film is a meditation on faith, doubt, and the paradox of belief, as Scorsese wrote in 2007: 'believing and doubting are antithetical, yet they go hand in hand.'