MovieChat Forums > Silence (2017) Discussion > Scorsese's most underrated film

Scorsese's most underrated film

posted 5 years ago by Ace_Spade (9654)
8 replies | jump to latest

Silence is my favourite Scorsese film of all-time. I'm a big fan of his films. I can't think of one I didn't like or possibly even love as a movie. Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas - all terrific. But Silence is the real deal.

It is so challenging, powerful, dramatic, and moving. It tackles some of the biggest questions humanity has ever wrestled with. It pushes its characters to the limit and further. It's visually and aurally SO arresting. This is a superlative movie.

But people don't talk about it. It hiccoughed through theatres (my theory: it's too uncomfortable for Christians or atheists to watch - it doesn't really affirm either viewpoint (also: crap advertising)). It's overshadowed by basically every other Scorsese film he's got, in terms of rep and hype.

I was going to post something like this on Gangs of New York's message board (another film I feel is grossly underrated), but then I remembered the artistic heights of Silence and thought, "No...that's the one everybody should know more of..."

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I agree. Silence is a masterpiece and is definitely underappreciated.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

I think the first 85% of the film is a masterpiece. After Andrew Garfield's character apostatizes the film takes like this 'over the head' narration type of format which I felt significantly negatively impacted the narrative and the pacing. Everything up to that point, with the pacing and the tension and the character showing every moment that lead to his decision to apostatizes was brilliantly done. Then it starts rushing through a bunch of time jumps just to be able to rush to get through the rest of the characters life and show that he didn't fully renounce his faith but hid it deep inside himself; that ending should have been shown another way.

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

See, I still like the last bit. There is an implication that maybe he's hiding it and so I was waiting to see if he had really given up or not. I thought it maintained tension throughout the last sequence, and the final shot is really stirring. Plus the silence of the closing credits.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

From a story telling stand point; I got the same conclusion as you and if this would have been a different medium other than a film that would have been fine. The change of pace and you can almost say POV went from a first person to an over head 3rd person perspective and I think this was a mistake to do for the last 20 minutes or so of the film. It almost changed the entire narrative format all at once.

I mean I guess you can say it was a bold choice but I think it disrupted the tension the narrative had created up to that point. It was such a change it brought me totally out of the narrative and I lost all emotional investment.

I like the silence of the closing credits as well.

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

Fair enough, my experience isn't everybody's experience (or else, what would be the point of these message boards?). But where you thought the tension left, I thought it was omnipresent.

I do see what you mean with the narrative POV shift; it just didn't disrupt my experience.

[–] arflexit (2376) 5 years ago

Yup to each their own. I did really enjoy that film until then and was really invested; maybe too invested so when the POV shift takes place I was really pulled out of the experience. If that did not happen to you I can see how you felt a shift to an "omnipresent" tension that worked for the narrative.

I think it did work for completing the story it was trying to tell; from a storytelling standpoint in that you have a clear moment of when the narrative POV shift happens (as soon as he apostatizes) you can say that moment caused the shift. So I don't think it was a negative impact on the story but on the narrative immersion. So I had a hard time appreciating that entire end sequence.

[–] huwdj (4571) 5 years ago

Never seen it - do not remember any publicity about it at the time. But I thought the book was very interesting so one of these days...

[–] Ace_Spade (9654) 5 years ago

Obviously, I highly recommend it; it's my favourite Scorsese film. Even if you don't find it to be his best, it's a great movie.