"Silence"

Regular MOJ readers (and those burdened by social-media connections with me) will know that, for quite a while, I'd been looking forward to the release of Martin Scorcese's production of "Silence", by Shusaku Endo.  I saw it -- in a theater, even! -- last week and was moved, impressed, provoked, and unsettled.

There are a lot of reviews and interpretations out there already (some of which seem to be more about the author's theological or political hobby-horses than about the book, the film, the author, or Scorcese), and I won't try to referee the arguments here.  The film is, like the book, ambiguous -- deliberately so, I've always assumed.  I do not pretend to know what Scorcese "intended" to communicate, but -- as I saw it -- the production paints statist anti-Christian persecution as the evil that it was, and is; depicts sympathetically the pain (physical and spiritual) that such persecution causes; and admiringly portrays the courage of martyrs, even as it evokes sympathy for those who stumble (as we all do).  The sound, the imagery, the color, the scenes and settings - all great. Highly recommended.

A blessed Easter to all!