Silence is a powerful 2017 film by Martin Scorcese, that pierces deeply into some interesting theological questions. Below is a discussion analyzing some of these points, between a friend and me.
Friend:
Finished it
Wow
Me:
He kept the cross.
Friend:
Yeah
Did his wife.slide it into his hand?
It was such a good movie
Its like Padres came to Japan to "save" the Japanese but the only way to save them was to give up their ego, which is the route to Buddhist salvation
And all the inherent conceptual conflicts between Christianity and Buddhism
Damn
Me:
Yes, but also more importantly than their ego, their spirit, their entire world view
It’s asking much more than taking your life, in a sense
Friend:
Yeah
True
Me:
Because they wanted to die for their beliefs, they did NOT want to live to see their beliefs die
Friend:
Such a beautiful film
Wow
Well put
Me:
But you realize at the end that he did the ultimate sacrifice
He gave up all external signs of his belief, stepped on jesus, to forever go down in history as a heretic. But he kept the cross. He kept his belief in the end
He was the first Protestant, in a sense
Friend:
Ah that's a good point
Me:
External rituals are irrelevant, as long as you stay true to your personal relationship with god
That’s why he heard jesus’ voice at that crucial moment, saying step on me, it’s okay
Friend:
Yeah! And in the end, when Jesus said I was suffering beside you in the silence
Me:
Ugh yes, fuckkkkk
In a sense he did the hardest thing
He could have disbanded his beliefs like Ferreira, or died for his beliefs
But he decided to externally disband them while internally holding on
The ultimate enslavement 2017
I’ll have to hand 2017 over to him tbh
He won that shit
Friend:
Yeah seriously
And yeah I’m assuming he had his wife give it to him
How was that movie not way more popular
Me:
Probably too deep for most
Same with birdman
Friend:
Oh hold up
What if he didn't
Me:
They both had that layered quality, like 6 different layers
Of meaning
Friend:
What if she just gave that to him
Which maybe makes it more beautiful
Like he would never jeopardize her in any way
And he never outwardly showed his faith
But she saw it in him still
Me:
Yeah, good point. They leave it up to the viewer, to add more layers of meaning
Same with birdman. Remember the ending?
There were like 4 ways you could interpret it, and each made it a completely different movie
Friend:
Yeah!!!
Me:
I was always curious whether he kept “silently” blessing kijichiros confessions, even after
Cuz they showed one instance of him doing it silently
Friend:
I think he did
Me:
But at the same time they said the one emperor dude was watching him super closely to the end of his life and saw now Christianity
No*
And he kind of used Japan’s metaphysics against them, the same way they did against him
They were so preoccupied with external signs, so he gave that to him
But he still kind of won, while letting hem win too
Friend:
Yeah!!! You're right!!
Me:
Cuz all they wanted was to write down in history that he showed no external signs and therefore was not Christian
But he totally challenged that
Ahhhhh so many layers!!!
Friend:
Yeah!!!
Me:
The brilliance was, when I first saw it I was like man they broke him, Japanese ego death wins,
But when they show the cross at the very end
It just totally fucks WVERYTHING up
And starts adding all the layers
Friend:
Yeah and I think he thought he wasn't a Christian anymore too
Me:
Still maintaining the top layer, but adding so many more
Friend:
Bc he denounced
Me:
Also cool symbolism: if you watch closely, kijihiro and the other Japanese Christians only partially step on jesus’ face toward the end
Because they are still preoccupied with the externality
Friend:
But him dying with the cross hidden in his hand really showed that he still was, even if he didn't think he was bc of how he externally lived
Me:
But our boy puts his WHOLE foot on there, he don’t give a shit!!!
Friend:
True!
Me:
And that line at the end too: he failed in the eyes of god, or I guess, that’s between him and god.....
Then it shows the cross
AHHHHHHHH. The best.
Friend:
it's such the best one
Me:
Silence moonlight and birdman
Top 3 easily
Friend:
Yeah!
Without a doubt
Man
That was such a powerful movie
Even how is was shot
Most of the movie is silence or the sounds of nature
But when it's not silent, you almost don't want it to be
Bc the dialogue uncovers or fortells pain
And if it's not dialogue, the silence is broken by suffering
The pit or the cross on the shoreline are the worst ways to die I think
Japanese are fucked up
Me:
Yes!
The surface layer is that the Christians are doing it for their glory, the price is the suffering of others
Which is true
But a lot of the other layers Kind of subvert the Japanese
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