It's got a fascinating world - Japanese Christians being persecuted in the 17th century - and a terrific set up two priests (Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, both ideally cast) set out to find their mentor (Liam Neeson) who has gone missing. (Sidebar: I'm surprised WW2 Allied propaganda didn't use stories of persuctions of Christians in Japan. Maybe they did.)
There's also an intriguing Japanese character,a. former Christian who repented who is their guide. But once that's set up in the first ten minutes the film doesn't really have any more ideas. Japanese Christians are glad to meet them, but also scared. They are persecuted and killed. Martin Scorsese gets to do lots of violent scenes that he likes of Christians being crucified, burned, tortured, decapitated, in amognst the long running time and minimal female presence.
I really liked the ambiable Japanese politician who does great evil, an all too recognisable type from history. It's well acted, looks terrific, with lovely photography, sets, costumes, etc.
It just suffers from lack of structure and character development. The last third is strong. I really liked it. It was dramatic conflict not just repetitive torture. It's just that middle section.
Garfield and Driver go full actor. Both seem like priests, Garfield goes believably nutty. I wonder if the film would've done better had they just thrown rocks at him for half an hour. (How long did Driver go without sex for?) I think it was a mistake to allow them to have Portugese accents. Also the piece could've done with some humour - it comes in the end, I guess.
I wonder if Mel Gibson ever considered filming this novel it feels right up his alley with its suffering and violence. He might've ensured a better structure too
No comments:
Post a Comment