I should never read/watch any review or analyses before I write my own opinions down!
I didn’t like the movie at all!
Why??
Is it because I am no longer a (devout/evangelical/catholic) Christian?
Is Scorsese a “Christian”?
Compare with the plight of the Church in areas occupied by ISIS today.
“Padre” in this film refers NOT to GOD, but to the (all too fallible) priests!
Is the line between martyrs and apostates so definite?
How much of Shusako Endo’s novel was based on history?
Silence + (suffering) –> (grandiose) auditory hallucinations……!?
Compare with “Jeanne d’Arc”
Anthropological theology
Vs.
Theological anthropology
Was the cross in the final scene placed there by the widow?
Isn’t “secret Christian” a contradiction?
If Christ died in order for us to live, then isn’t us dying for him a frustration of the divine intention?
One can see the faithful follower, the fickle believer, the liberal leader, etc. – all varieties of the religious type in this story.
When faithfulness and survival are blurred against each other……!
Compare with the Catholic Inquisition in Europe.
Is the suffering of the Christian missionaries in the context of European imperialism akin to the sadomasochistic sexuality of the modern affluent?
Apostasy & apostatize (not apostasize)
There are 3 ways in which I approach the trial of the Christians:
- Refuse to blaspheme (& consequently be martyred), because you believe that is the kind of faithfulness desired by the Lord, like many/most of the lay Japanese Christians.
- Make a formal gesture of apostasy, but continue to worship Christ privately, like the 2 priests.
- Refuse to apostatize, because I believe that surrendering to brute force would set a precedent of condoning the power of structural violence to subdue the individual conscience. This is the closest option to my conviction. In fact, even to believe, that ultimately, one’s response is a choice is in itself the most radical, audacious and ultimately salvific/transformative/triumphant claim! Human free will (for which Christ suffered & died, believing this to be GOD’s clear intention) remains the supreme value that deserves, even demands, any & every sacrifice……….
Counter-conversion strategies
Compare the last scenes with “Last Temptation”
“ad majorem dei gloriam” – everything! Really?
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