Posted February 14, 2017 13:15:35

A lifelong obsession with Catholicism is one of the main themes in Martin Scorsese's latest film, as he continues what he calls a search for the spiritual human condition.

Silence is a period drama, starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, about Portuguese Jesuit and Christian martyrs in 17th century Japan.

In an interview with The Final Cut, Scorsese said he had been wanting to make the film since the late 80s, when he first read the novel of the same name by Shusaki Endo.

"I knew immediately that I wanted to make it into a film," he said.

"I think my instinct was because elements that I was researching for The Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, Raging Bull and all these other movies seemed to be crystallised or synthesised into this one story."

Catholicism has been present in many of Scorsese's films. He says what he saw in Silence was "the essence of faith, the struggle for faith, to understand what it is or maybe not understand what it is but just have it".

"I'm not trying to convert anyone or change anybody's minds," he said.

"I just feel that for me, this has been something from when I first remember, at seven or eight years old, searching for a way to come to terms with that part of the human being or the human condition that is spiritual, especially in a material world."

In Raging Bull, Scorsese was influenced by the 1951 French film by Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest. In Bresson's film the pastor says: "God is not a torturer, he wants us to be merciful with ourselves."

"And so you had that in Raging Bull, whereby at the end of the story he's sitting in front of a mirror and he's talking to himself and the lines from On the Waterfront," Scorsese said.

"He's saying: 'It's you, Charlie.' And he seems to be comfortable with himself for the first time in the story.

"When I made the movie that's where I wanted to go, but after making the film I hadn't reached that; I didn't know I was saying that ... that's one of the reasons there was sort of a crazed passion to make [Raging Bull] that way, to get to that point.

"If he could forgive himself, he would be less punishing on himself and therefore the people around him."

The story puts the modern viewer in a complicated position when it comes to empathising with the priests, especially Rodrigues Garfield's character and his unswerving belief.

While the priests could be seen as agents of colonialism, Scorsese says he wanted to get past that and dig into the essence of what they believed.

But as an Asian Jesuit told the director in Rome: "the Asian culture may have perceived this Western truth as arrogance".

"Therefore, what they had to do was break that arrogance down particularly because it meant the undoing of their entire culture and who they are," Scorsese said.

"It's interesting to think you're with Rodrigues, but then to watch him learn. And maybe we learn from what he learns, which is the real essence of the true Christianity.

"Do we have to emphasise with Rodrigues? I'm taking you through a maze in a way. You think you're going Rodrigues's way, but by the time Rodrigues has to make his choice and how he winds up at the end of the story, it becomes a different kind of journey.

"I'm not asking you to really emphasise with the people who may have the best of intentions, but may have caused some damage."

When it came to shooting in Taiwan, the film took on a life of its own, at times moving in an entirely new direction to Scorsese's original concept.

He says much of that had to do with the rhythm of life in Asia, and Taiwan's landscape.

"I didn't expect the green, the lushness and I certainly didn't expect the mist," he said.

"And minute by minute or every 30 seconds it would change.

Scorsese said it was a great experience for him as an "urban" director, best known for films that take place in cities like New York.

"The landscape itself dictated very often the visual approach to a film that I had planned in the hotel room in a different way," he said.

"When I got to the location and the location scouting I planned it another way and then when it came to shoot the location looked different.

"So I went with what we had that day and it was constant issue of juggling possibilities and taking advantage."

Listen to the full interview on the Final Cut on Friday, or subscribe to the podcast now on iTunes, the ABC Radio app or your favourite podcasting app.

Topics: film-movies, arts-and-entertainment, religion-and-beliefs, catholic, united-states, taiwan, japan

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Martin Scorsese's lifelong obsession with spirituality surfaces once more in Silence - ABC Online