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Silence And The Avoidance Of Persecution

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Silence and the Avoidance of Persecution
In the film Silence, the characters of Kichijiro, Rodrigues, and Ferreira illustrate the idea that a person’s outward actions fail at conveying their inward beliefs. Throughout the film, Kichijiro consistently claims that he is a Christian but then denies Christ whenever serious opposition arises. However, the film uses the discovery of Kichijiro’s crucifix at the end of the film and his continuous declarations to Father Rodrigues of, Forgive me Father for I have sinned,” as a method of suggesting that even though Kichijiro outwardly apostated many times, he still had a strong faith on the inside. Moreover, the character of Rodrigues extends the film’s theme through the line, “Even if God had been silent my whole life to this very day everything I do, everything I’ve done, speaks of Him,” and through his possession of a crucifix when his body underwent cremation. The aforementioned quote and the possession of the crucifix illustrate that even though Rodrigues committed the act of apostasy he never truly apostatized in his heart. Finally, when the fallen priest Ferreira mentions to Rodrigues, “Only our Lord can judge your heart,” it evidences that even though Ferreira openly apostated and helped the Japanese in their attempt at attaining Rodrigues’ apostasy, …show more content…

Consequently, Ferreira’s proclamation serves as the perfect representation of the film’s theme because it reinforces the importance of a person’s internal thought and beliefs over their external actions because God judges works

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