Andrew Garfield weren’t on the radar when it came to naming my favourite actors. Then sometime in December, I watched Mel Gibson’s latest epic, Hacksaw Ridge, and within a few minutes, Garfield won me over.
It might not have been love at first sight, for sure, but the 33-year-old actor seemed to have taken a very promising direction with his recent choice of roles. I would love to ask him about his personal beliefs as, in such a short while, he played the main character in two movies that had something to do with God, faith and persistence. Who wants to make a movie about faith these days? – I remember asking myself while watching Gibson’s war movie and Scorsese’s Silence was somewhat similar to that experience. Even though it didn’t thrill me all the way through its nearly 3 hours, it did pose the question that tends to appear in everyone’s life at some point: Are we alone or is there someone above, looking after us?
The passion project of Martin Scorsese, as Garfield put it during an interview, had been around since 1990, ending up on the big screen at a time, when the reasons and means of belief are very much questioned on a daily basis. There I was, walking to the movies on an early spring day, not knowing what to expect of a movie that would soon send me on a mission along with two Jesuit priests – Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver – to the land of 17th century Japan, in search for Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who is said to have renounced his faith. Christianity, as you’d probably assume, was not very popular among the Japanese at the 1600s, to say the least. More accurately, the followers of the Holy Trinity were prosecuted, tortured and killed. As passionately as they start on their journey, the young priests have yet to experience the horrors of inquisition.
For quite a while, I thought I could understand Scorsese’s intentions, but for some scenes I lost his thread of thought. Even though he let go of almost every tool of impressionism – no grandiose music, spectacular camera moves or fancy special effects – sometimes it was just too much for me: when Father Rodriguez’s (Andrew Garfield) reflection in the river morphs into Jesus’ face is the best way to explain that feeling. Still, the story was exciting, carefully drawing the outlines of greatly important matters. Seeing Adam Driver after Jim Jarmusch’s sweet drama Paterson, was a nice surprise, just as reassuring as it was to watch Garfield struggling through the biggest debates of history: what is the right of one culture and what is the role of another? What is the difference between religion and faith? And where does human endurance end?
Martin Scorsese might not be my favourite director, and Silence may not be the movie I watch at least two times a year. But I still managed to appreciate the efforts lingering in the background. If you want to see some deep thoughts, get in life for this film: it might be a heavy meal on the table, but it is definitely worth consuming.