MovieChat Forums > Silence (2017) Discussion > Made me sympathetic to the Japanese

Made me sympathetic to the Japanese

posted 7 years ago by Dollyrkr
46 replies | jump to latest

I mean it was an interesting exercise for the time period of how a country can protect it citizens from an insane cult trying to take hold of it's people.
They learn they can't martyr them so they have to silence them.
I found it pathetic and inhuman that the priests continued to believe in their imaginary sky daddy even though it meant innocent people they put in harm's way were tortured and murdered.
The fact that the priests still clung to their psychotic cult nonsense shows the depth of delusion and the horror of religion.
It's silly that there are even words like "apostate" - like "I don't believe in made up fairy tale nonsense anymore" should have a name.
Religious people who try to indoctrinate others are the greatest threat to peace and technology in the world. Religious people who try to indoctrinate others are terrorists, because that is precisely how terrorism begins: indoctrination.

I hope this is just seen as a page in history toward a future when humans evolve past the horror that is religion.

[–] apples_are_oranges 7 years ago

The thing is, Edo Japan, as shown in this movie, was not exactly atheist itself. In fact, it looks like a Buddhist theocracy where authorities force people to renounce Christianity to become Buddhists, not to remain godless.

[–] Reapervai 7 years ago

The thing is, Edo Japan, as shown in this movie, was not exactly atheist itself. In fact, it looks like a Buddhist theocracy where authorities force people to renounce Christianity to become Buddhists, not to remain godless.

They wanted to protect their culture and I am glad that they did.

[–] apples_are_oranges 7 years ago

Culture is transnational. There's no "their" culture, or the culture of blacks, or the culture of flying eggplants. Culture belongs to everybody.

And if culture is enforced by the authorities, it's not culture; it's policy.

[–] ronindave 7 years ago

One of the reasons Christianity was welcomed in Japan was that the Buddhist sects were causing so much secular problems and meddling in politics that Christianity was seen as a perfect foil for them.

[–] ronindave 7 years ago

completely off the mark. Christianity had been accepted for decades until other concerns came into play that had far less to do with religious differences but more to do with Spanish Imperialism and internal politics of a Shogun government which was afraid of outside and inside threats which Christianity represented both.

[–] Inkan1969 7 years ago

Are you really OK with the atrocities portrayed in this movie? Are you really OK with innocent people being tortured and killed?

[–] coolstream (11) 7 years ago

"I found it pathetic and inhuman that the priests continued to believe"

You didn´t get the basics of this movie...

[–] captainburrito (128) 7 years ago

Historically, the Shogun took action when the Jesuits started getting their communities to adopt western culture. That would have alarmed me as well and I would have taken action. Not sure I would have tortured the rank and file however or killed them, as belief is absolute and even if they renounce in name they might still believe. I'd have just expelled the priests and if they came back then I'd have done what they did to Andrew Garfield as well. The converts I'd have isolated on an island so their faith would die with them.

I am an athiest but I actually respected the priests clinging to their beliefs. The problem is their religion does not permit suicide or I am sure some of them would have killed themselves to save the converts from suffering. That their actions and beliefs did cause suffering I think is part of what made the movie good given the dilemma it presented.

Ideologies can be just the same as religion so even without religion we'd still have fanatics.

The actions of the Japanese such as assimilating him into Japanese culture and giving him a posthumous buddhist title also made me think of mormons giving people posthumous baptisms.