The first full-length trailer for "Silence" has been released, showcasing Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as seventeenth-century priests traveling to Japan. The film is directed by Academy Award-winner Martin Scorsese, and it will premiere his December.
The movie is one of Scorsese's passion projects, and it has been in development since the 1990s. The story itself is based on a 1966 novel of the same name, authored by Shusaku Endo.
According to Deadline, the synopsis of the movie states that the two main characters, played by Garfield and Driver, head to feudal Japan to look for their mentor, played by Liam Neeson. This mentor had committed apostasy, renouncing his faith after he had been brutally tortured.
However, the trailer also showcases that Garfield and Driver will also be persecuted and tortured during their stay in Japan. This is set during a period after the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion, in which Japanese Roman Catholics lost against the Tokugawa shogunate. Because of this defeat, Roman Catholicism had been banned, and those who practiced it had to do so in secret.
There are also scenes in the trailer where the priests attempt to establish some sort of church in Japan, with both priests holding mass in huts and in secret locations for the Japanese people who still followed the Catholic faith.
By the end of the trailer, Garfield's character is heard stating "I pray but I'm lost. Am I just praying to silence?" Shots are then shown of three priests and later of Japanese followers being crucified.
Actors Tadanobu Asano, Yosuke Kubozuka, Ciarán Hinds, Shinya Tsukamoto, and Issey Ogata will also star in the film. The script has been done by Scorsese and Jay Cocks.
"Silence" has already received positive reviews in its early screenings and is touted to be a strong contender for the Academy Awards. The film will be released in the Vatican this Nov. 29 and worldwide on Dec. 23.
