Silence
SILENCE
In order to improve English skills, including speaking, listening, writing, and reading, we discussed that we could improve English skills through learning our favorite thing in English.
This time, let’s use movies. The other day, I watched an interview with the movie director Martin Scorsese conducted by Todd Rucynski,a member of the NHK program of“English Conversation by News.” The interview was talking about Scorsese’s new film “Silence,” based on the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo.
The story is set in Nagasaki in the 17th century just after the Shimabara Rebellion (December 17, 1637 to April 15, 1638), in which Japanese Roman Catholics fought against the Tokugawa Shogunate of the Japanese government.The Catholics were completely defeated by the government, which then prohibited Christianity.Catholics were forced to hide in the countryside, but continued their religious practiceswith Japanese laymencalled the Hidden Christians performing services and rites. Two Jesuit priests, Garupe and Rodrigues, traveled from Portugal to Japan guided by a Japanese man named Kichijiroto search for their missing mentor,Ferreira, who had come to Japan to spread Catholicism.Kichijiro seems to not be a trustworthy person, but he brought them to the Hidden Christians’ village. Actually, Kichijiro was Catholic, but he denied his Christianity, having stamped his foot on the plate with a drawing of Christ’s face. At that time, the government tried to find out if a person was Christian or not by presenting a plate with Jesus’ face, St. Mary’s face, or some other Christian symbol. If a person refused to put his or her foot on it, the government declared them to be Christian andthey were crucified,hung upside down with a small cut on the earlobe in a hole dug in the earth, or subjected to one of many other savage torture techniques. In the story, there were two types of Catholics –those who bravely accepted such cruel torture and died, and those who publicly denied their faith. Mokichi was an old man who was executed bycrucifixionin the sea. He died after three days of repeated high and low tides. Mokichi was singing until his death. He was one of the heroes and a saint who never abandoned his faith. However, Ferreira and Kichijirodenied Christianity and converted to Buddhism, at least on the surface. At the end of the story, even such a heroic priest as Father Rodrigues was also defeated by the government official’s savageviolence. He could not allow his Christian followers to be tormented by the officers. This was the technique for the government to force the priests to concede defeat, under the conditions that their Christian followers would be free from prison and torture.
The prideful priest Rodrigues, who used to look down on Kichijiro, finally realized that Jesus had been with those weak people and Jesus allowed them to put their foot on the plate. Rodrigues could hear Jesus’ voice, not only silence. At the end of the story, Rodrigues deeply apologized to Kichijiro and thanked him for being with him. Shusaku Endo and Martin Scorsese wanted to show that Jesus was always with those weak, sick, ugly, and unusual people. They truly believe that Jesus loves those weak people.
There is one difference between Shusaku Endo’s and Martin Scorsese’s stories that is related to Kichijiro’s attitude. Scorsese encourages Kichijiro. He often betrayed his attitude about the status of his Christianity. He denied Christianity many times and confessed his bad actions. Scorsese encourages Kichijiro to learn every time he makes a mistake and every time he should become stronger. Actually, in the book by Endo, there is no line where Kichijiro says that he wants to be strong. Scorsese is saying that if a Christian was defeated and put their foot on the plate with Jesus’ face, the defeated person is just doing this to try to survive. Even Rodrigues cried out to his followers that it was OK to put their feet on the plates. His love forhis followers allowed them to do so. He could hear the voice of Jesus saying it was okay to live.
In the interview, Todd Rucynski asked what message Martin Scorsese wanted to send through this movie. Scorsese said that it’s more about culture, and it’s more about what’s happening in the world today. Fittingly, the movie was released at this time. The less you know about the other person’s culture, the more you fear. The more you fear, the more there’s violence. And then, it’s a total clash. One has to give in to the other.
It took a long time to write this complex story with many characters, and that is why the Italian-American director Martin Scorsese made this movie only after having thought about it for 28 years. In the end, the important thing is that we can improve English skills through movies, literature, music, sports, or anything in English. Perhaps even more importantly, we can learn different cultures, thoughts, and even how each individual of the human race is different. Let’s learn English together! Come and see our program at Open Campus or participate in a one-day English course anytime at your convenience.
