I'm not Christian so bear with me. If you commit a sin and confess does everything goes away and you get a clean slate? If so then did this guy found a loophole (according to the movie) where he sins and sell priests to inquisitors and just go to confess afterwards? Furthermore, how does a priest decide if a man deserve forgiveness or not? Didn't the preist in this case got stabbed several times by this man?
shareHere's how it works: The priest always tell the confessor that they're forgiven (if it's the first time*), but it's implied that they're only forgiven if they're actually be sorry. Saying it means nothing if they don't feel it. They can lie, but God will know the truth, so they'll be punished eventually anyway. Now, you can argue that evil people don't care about that and can just keep lying about being sorry and going to confess over and over. However, if they don't actually care, why would they go to confess in the 1st place?
KICHIJIRO isn't evil; he's just weak. Luckily, RODRIGUES knows the line between being someone who sees the best in people and being stupid. That's why he eventually doesn't want to hear his confessions anymore.
*I don't think there's an actual limit of times someone can be forgiven for the same sin, but priests can analyze the specific situation and act accordingly.
Kichijiro says that he didn't sell Rodrigues out for silver. Do you think he was lying simply so Rodrigues might still offer him absolution, or was he being genuine? The Inquisitors may have paid Kichijiro, by the rocks, just to play with Rodrigues' head. And bear in mind that Kichijiro had earlier opportunities to sell out Rodrigues and Garupe.
shareIn the book Kichijiro pleads with Rodrigues to forgive him. He didn't sell him out for money but because he himself had been found out and was threatened with death.
His shining moment is when he says that he would be a good Christian if he had been born in another era.
actually makes sense in the context of the movie. Rodrigues thought that Kichijiro was a weak man particularly after he seems to renounce his Christian faith more than once. Is he a true Christian, or is he not ? But, I think Kichijiro real display of faith was when he asks Rodrigues to hear his confession after Rodrigues is already a "fallen priest."
After that, I think Rodrigues sees Kichijiro with a different perspective and perhaps with greater understanding. In the end, Kichijiro was caught having a hidden Christian symbol, and I suspect that was a sign that he was a true Christian believer.
I do agree with the last statement most of all, however. If Kichijiro was born in the US and in the present day, he would probably would have no difficulty being a good Christian, as Christians are obviously an accepted group . But in 17th century Japan, his Christian faith had put him between a rock and a hard place, and he tried to walk the line as best he could.
Great analysis.
Yes, Kichijiro may have been a relatively 'weak' man (although it's truly hard to condemn anyone simply for choosing to renounce their faith over being tortured and then burned alive/drowned/hung upside down and slowly bled to death), but he was nevertheless sincere in his faith. He had simply found a way to somehow accommodate that faith within a culture that was hostile to Christianity. And of course, he had suffered in his own way for the religion Ferreira and his fellow priests had brought to Japan, since he was wracked with relentless guilt and self-loathing for renouncing his faith whilst others perished.
In order for RODRIGUES to react that way, the Inquisitors would've had to know that KICHIJIRO wasn't just a stranger who was guiding him. Also, the goal of their psychological torture was to make RODRIGUES quit his faith. KICHIJIRO had nothing to do with that.
shareI could not hate Kichijiro, no matter how pathetic, since I know that he is me.
And even to the end, he still believed, even after the Padres had (seemingly) given up.
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I will have to explain that to you at length.
In a nut shell when St, Peter asked Jesus how many times should we (the priests) forgive a repetitive sinner? Jesus' answer was 70 X 7 times. Meaning people can/will fail and if they are truly sorry, keep forgiving them.
"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)
The irony is that kichijiro understood the teachings of christ better than the rest of them, and to an extent, even Rodriguez. If jesus died for your sins, then God will not punish you if you desacrate their religion, he will forgive you.
Maybe you got a kid maybe you got a pretty wife only thing that I got been botherin me my whole life