'SILENCE' | Scorsese's long-awaited film
'Silence' is Martin Scorsese's latest outing, telling the story of two priests - Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver), who travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor (Liam Neeson) and propagate Catholicism.
'Silence' is a film that has been long in the works and significantly delayed over the years, taking almost twenty-six years to be developed by legendary writer/director/producer Scorsese. It is an adaptation from Shūsaku Endō's novel of the same name - adapted once before for the screen by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971.
With development beginning in the early 1990s, Scorsese wrote the initial screenplay with co-writer Jay Cocks; however, they were unhappy with their first draft, and revised the script for the next fifteen years.
It wasn't until sometime later in 2009 that Scorsese realised his passion project for the screen with the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro, and Gael García Bernal in talks; this again fell apart though, as 'Silence' soon fell back into development hell, losing the acting trio and Scorsese deciding to work on 'Shutter Island' (2010), 'Hugo' (2011), and 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013) instead.
Then, in 2014 it seemed a light was being shone on this project once again. Finally, Scorsese fans would get to see the passion project that he'd been working on for more than two decades.
Reviews for this film have overall been quite positive. 'Silence' is an experience in itself, and not a film that one can simply like or dislike. It is something that needs to be seen and begs to be experienced not only culturally, but in its themes, as it questions viewers about morality, and adhering to one's sacred vows.
'Silence' is visually pretty, and the cinematography is something to be enjoyed as the tension is heightened by its unique camera work. There is no doubt that Scorsese is someone to be relied upon for high quality filmmaking.
It is a technically amazing film, complete with the exceptional emotional performance from fan favourite Andrew Garfield (in his second brilliant performance in the last few months - the other being Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge'). It is a film that proves that Garfield is a formidable actor of his generation and an actor to watch closely over the coming years.
Commendably, each actor shines in this film, never to be outshone by Garfield, no matter how small or prominent their part. It is also nice, for once, to see Liam Neeson in person-based drama, instead of the cliche action film he's come to be associated with.
'Silence' isn't a film that sets out to shed a bad light upon Buddhism; it simply explores a brutal period of history.
It is a work of love from beginning to end, and deserving of the credit it has received thus far. It was definitely worth the twenty-six year development delay. Scorsese bided his time well on this one.
'Silence' hits cinemas in Australia 16th February 2017. Released in the U.K. 1st January.
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