Silence (2016)

I don’t think I know Martin Scorsese well enough as I should. I want to know as much as I can about film but I had only seen The Wolf of Wall Street, Taxi Driver and Shutter Island of Scorsese‘s work. That disappoints me and am hopeful to change that with his 2016 film Silence. I know that this film had been nominated for best cinematography(Rodrigo Prieto) at this year’s Oscars and was interested to find out why it didn’t get nominated for best picture. As far as the content of this film, I didn’t know too much. When I first heard of it, I was getting it confused with Hacksaw Ridge(Review) because they both star Andrew Garfield in a historical role with a religious spin. However, once I came to terms with the differences between the two I found out the plot of Silence was about a couple of catholic priests looking for their teacher in Japan. I did not know when the narrative was set. I knew the film starred Andrew Garfield as well as Adam Driver who I had seen in The Force Awakens and I remember his role in 2013’s What If. The film also had Liam Neeson, who was in… most things. I was excited to watch my fourth Scorsese film, with my eyes set on the cinematography, and wondering why it wasn’t best picture worthy over stupid La La Land(Review), I jumped into the film.

 This was a long watch and I felt every minute. I read this as a good thing because I managed to get into the shoes of Andrew Garfield‘s Rodrigues. I felt how time affected him while in the hostile Japan. Perhaps Scorsese pushed up the run time, and created a slow pace, on purpose to make us suffer with our tragic hero. The story had an interesting effect on me, I am not religious in any format, but I still managed to connect, and empathise, with the characters as they avoid torture for what they believe in. In many ways, the story wasn’t about Christianity, because it can be broadened to any form oppression for belief or even goals. The story could have been as personal as a child wanting to become an artist and her parents not letting her. However, this story uses true history of the 17th-century priests in Japan to send its message. The inciting incident was not dissimilar from that of Apocalypse Now because a high ranking official has gone missing in an Asian country and someone has to go find them. In Silence‘s case, it is Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver who have to find their spiritual mentor(Liam Neeson) who has been lost in Japan. When they smuggle themselves into Japan, they find the persecution extremities heavier than they, and we, would have thought. It was very real and very visceral helped of course by the setting and the cinematography, which is well worth the nomination it received. The cinematography used a lot of stationary shots which just made the manual moves or handheld shots even more noticeable. One example of this is when Rodrigues (Garfield) and Garupe (Driver) are relaxing just outside of their hideout when a handheld camera pans across the landscape to catch, through the bushes, a pair of Asian sun hats – which we know as threatening from the lead-up. This is also effective because cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto did not do the cliched pan too far past then quickly returned to point of interest. Or at least, it was not done to the degree that would make me roll my eyes.

Other cinematic techniques used were the colour scheme transition over time and the stepping on Christian merchandise. The first (colour scheme) was completed through starting in a cold blue, it is definitely noticeable – especially when pointed out. This continues to evolve through until the shots are a hot orange. This conveys the increasing intensity for our character. We can see how the pressure is building on him to quit his beloved religeon to save lives. Of course, there are shots in the early stages of the film where it has a hot colour temperature and the reverse for the late stages, but the key is majority. It was also a case of the light versus the dark as the film transitions. From the start, we see very little of the dark, and what is dark is not the night but a manmade hideout. However, by the end, it is pitch black skies that portray our characters turn from faith. The way that Scorsese and Prieto conveyed the content of character was through how they made the different characters react to being forced to step on an image of christ. This was made cinematic through repetition of the same shot. When we see villagers stand on the image, it is always from a high angle, almost point of view, shot. I noticed that this kept happening and even happened when we saw Neeson‘s character stand on Christ. But, this all built towards a change in angle for when Rodrigues stood on the image. It was the biggest moment in the film, in terms of emotion, not scale. It was also helped by the silence and slow motion of course, but this use of angles did assist with the emotional power of the scene and did not go unnoticed on me. The cinematography really lived up to the expectations I had for it and really had a life of its own. For these reasons, I think that Silence‘s nomination was a very accurate pick for the academy.

There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about the film because it felt very real and I like realism in my features. I think the slow pace was necessary for certain, but it made me struggle to maintain my interest. If it wasn’t for the recurring characters like the old samurai (Issei Ogata) and Kichijiro (Yôsuke Kubozuka) I could have lost interest completely. I found myself hoping for the arc of Kichijiro’s character to be complete but every opportunity he had of redemption he chose life over. It was frustration, but again, it was necessary for us to see Kichijiro like Rodrigues sees him. Also, the film seemed too complex to consume in the first sitting. I have to say that I probably missed many techniques in storytelling and camera work, as well as themes and motifs because of the complex nature of what this film tries to talk about. I wanted to spin that point as a negative but now it just seems like I am excited to learn more from what this film has to offer, which I am. The performances in this film were really great, none were a letdown, which was a surprise for such a broad and little-known cast. I was pleasantly surprised by Issei Ogata‘s acting that was surprisingly infused with levity but also made for a great antagonist, similar wording could be said for Tadanobu Asano‘s performance as the interpreter.

Overall, this was a fantastic movie that I would love to rewatch to find deeper meaning and it is not every film that has that capability. The camera work was fantastic not just at showing the action but also through being used as a storytelling device. The performances were astounding. The only weakness I could find was the length of the film being a strain on my attention span but it was a worthy sacrifice to make for us to understand the oppression Rodrigues felt. I cannot comprehend why this film was not nominated for best picture and best director over damned La La Land(Review). I would recommend this film for literally anyone with three hours to kill that would be able to comprehend the deeper meaning of the narrative. This film has taught me quite a bit about cinematography as an art and as a tool and how they blend together. I learned that not every film is about character arcs and interactions or performance. Some can just be about the plot.