Silence

2016's "Silence" by Martin Scorcese.
Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, and Tadanobu Asano.

Based off of the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo, it is set in the 17th century where 2 Jesuit priests (Garfield and Driver) travel from Portugal to Japan to track down a missionary mentor (Neeson), and continue to spread the gospel. In that time period, Japan was typically Buddhist and Shinto, however, to quell Buddhist rebellions, Christianity (and subsequent Western technology) were embraced briefly, before concerns of Christianity upsetting the established Tokugawa shogunate arose. Christianity was officially banned for centuries afterwards.
In the film, Driver and Garfield head to Japan with little but their faith, and find a country full of starving and persecuted Christians on the run from "The Inquisitor". Very quickly, they are forced to deal with a brutal regime not above torture to coerce them into apostatizing. 

Scorcese has always been one of the more kinetic directors around, but his passion project here finds him making something much more quiet, profound, and personal than even his 1988's "Last Temptation of Christ", which was more of an allegory or What If? Here, we watch humans struggle with their faith, in terms of how much suffering an individual is willing to take (whether to oneself or in watching others suffer) in the name of faith versus religion and forced indoctrination. Would your faith suffer a setback if you had conversations with the almighty in defeat, or heard nothing while getting to live your life free of torture and death? Profound in thought but lacking in authenticity (Portuguese with American accents, Japanese who speak English if they're Christian), including the dialogue about what individual religions actually are, Scorcese's "Silence" is worth a watch and a listen, but won't be revisited religiously.

3.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.