Silence (2016) - The Greatest Movie Ever Made About Faith in God

Cafe Society
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Gist: Stop what you are doing and see Silence immediately. It is the greatest movie ever made about faith in adversity and is essential viewing no matter your religious/spiritual views.

Wow, I can not believe I had not seen this movie and even more shocking to me, I can not believe that this movie was not the talk of every church in America. You could have discussion groups about this and there are enough clips in this movie to fill countless sermons. It is a great shame that this movie was not promoted/discussed more in churches. It is essential viewing.

Silence is the greatest movie ever made about faith in God, especially faith while tested by persecution and doubt. This is not just a movie you see, enjoy, and move on. This is not a movie that feeds you quickly and provides another rush of temporary spiritual revival. This is the kind of movie that sticks with you and lingers in your mind for a long time after.

Two priests, both deeply faithful to God, travel to Japan in the 1600’s to locate a fellow priest that has gone missing. When the arrive, they find a small collection of Japanese Christians in desperate need for guidance and leadership. I can not say anything else about the movie because it needs to be experienced as cold as possible.

I was drained at the end of the movie, but not depressed. Not a day has gone by I have not thought about it since I saw it. If you have yet to see this movie, you should correct that as soon as possible.

Until now, I would have said that Mad Max: Fury Road was the greatest movie made in the decade we are now exiting. Silence is now a clear contender in my mind.

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Saw it in theaters when it came out. I’d put it on par with The Irishman, but then I didn’t particularly care for The Irishman (Silence had better performances IMHO, but was even less engaging).

I mean, it’s nice they had faith and all, but it’s really not. They brought misery and death to their followers and were forced to live as hypocrites themselves. As an atheist, I think they were jackasses. I question the extent to which Christians would want to identify with this sort of “ugly not-martyr.” Because he fulfills none of their martyrdom fantasies, and I don’t think most congregations would care to contemplate a world in which they’re 1) too chicken shit to die for their beliefs, 2) unable to practice openly, and 3) still maintain a private faith.

While I can agree it strikes me as a very “real” portrayal of how gray the world can be and how difficult it can be to live up to some externally imposed model of what a Christian “ought” to be, you don’t make a billion dollars by pitching something like that to US Christian audiences (and, again, the more secular among us don’t empathize quite so readily with the missionaries). So maybe that’s not why the film is “meh” as entertainment, but I think ought to explain the mystery by which Christians have been largely silent on Silence.