Coloring Life 活出色彩: 3月 2017

Andrew Garfield, standing, plays a Jesuit priest
who leads the villagers of Goto in mass.

Photo courtesy of atmovies.com

本文轉載自英文「台北時報」張瀚先生撰寫之影評「沉默」:

Movie Review: Silence
Despite strong storytelling, thought-provoking themes and stunning cinematography, Martin Scorsese’s religious epic about the persecution of Christians in Japan offers a rather one-sided look at faith.

By Han Cheung
Taipei Times Staff reporter.
Courtesy of Taipei Time

You feel that you recognize some of the locales — that mountain scene must be Yangmingshan, that rocky coastline looks like Jinguashi — but you are not entirely sure because you’ve never been to southern Japan. Though strangely discordant, the feeling soon disappears as the stunning cinematography and compelling storytelling take over.
Years in the making, Scorsese’s passion project tells the story of two Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who arrive in 17th century Japan. Christians were being persecuted and executed, but believers continued to practice in secret. The plot follows the priests’ attempt to find their mentor (Liam Neeson), who is rumored to have apostatized and is living as a Japanese.
It is is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Shusaku Endo, who wrote from the rare perspective of a Japanese Roman Catholic. Endo himself is said to have endured religious discrimination in Japan.
Unsurprisingly, the story is heavily skewed toward the Western and Christian perspective, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Despite running 161 minutes, there’s enough emotion, tension, conflict and change of pacing in the film that there are few lulls.
The graphic composition of a few scenes remain memorable days after watching the film — a bird’s eye view of three priests, dressed in black, walking horizontally across the screen on a pure white stairway, a lone ship crashing through an ocean of dark blue. These can be incredibly detailed — during a cremation scene, the pyre is placed right in front of a rock, upon which the waves crash.
Silence comes in many symbolic forms throughout the film — the silence of God in response to the priest’s prayers, the silence of the people who risk death to practice in secret, and the silence of those who choose to internalize their faith instead of dying for it. It’s a trial for Father Rodrigues (Garfield), whose faith, which defines a way of life and all that he has known, is tested and he must decide how to move forward in a world where all odds are against him. This unyielding faith is what drives the film, as the tests become increasingly brutal. There’s a moral issue here — to what extent do you hold onto your faith when not only yours, but other people’s lives are at stake? Apostasy is just a formality here, and can be achieved by simply trampling on an image of Jesus. Does committing the act really mean you have turned your back on God?
We hold our breaths as things get worse, we wonder when Rodrigues is going to snap, and we question if we would ever have this kind of resolve.
While the Japanese characters are featured prominently with much dialogue that presents their reasons for wanting to rid the country of Christianity, it’s obvious that Scorsese wanted to portray them in a stark contrast to the priests’ holy characters. They are the bad guys who are merely obstacles to Rodrigues’ spiritual journey, and you don’t have much room to think otherwise.
You have the wretched, cowardly guide (Kubozuka Yousuke) who repeatedly betrays the heroes, the cruel and sarcastic translator (Asano Tadanobu) and finally the inquisitor (Ogata Issey), who is downright conniving and will do anything to achieve his goals. His high-pitched tone of voice, insincere facial expressions and irritating mannerisms make him immediately unlikeable, removing any chance for one to really ponder the Japanese perspective. This is unfortunate because there are some pretty intriguing metaphorical and philosophical exchanges between him and Rodrigues.
And the only “good” Japanese are the impoverished and oppressed villagers, the Hidden Christians, living in misery and revering the priests as saviors. They also seem like the only Japanese who were converted, a point which could have been explored more. We know what drives the priests, but what compels these villagers to choose death over spitting on a cross? What were their lives before the crackdown on Christianity?
The impressive thing is that these thoughts and comments only popped up after the film, indicating that it was a solid piece of entertainment. It’s a story that digs deep and can be deeply personal, even controversial, and each person will leave the theater with different questions.
One last thing: apparently Garfield and Driver were supposed to be talking in Portuguese-accented English. It didn’t work at all. Neeson, for his part, didn’t even try.

It’s strange watching Silence knowing that the entire film was shot in Taiwan despite the story being set in southern Japan. The bulk of Martin Scorsese’s latest work is set in villages or indoors (and in a wooden cage), but every time they show a scene of the lush coast or rolling hills, one can’t help but wonder which part of Taiwan it was shot in.

影評「沉默」中文節譯如下:

本片雖有着很强的戲劇性、引發思考的主題、令人讚嘆的電影拍攝；然而導演在處理日本對基督徒迫害的歷史事件上，只提供了對事件的一面看法而已。

故事發生在日本南部，全片則在台灣拍攝。美麗的海岸，陽明山的温泉、金瓜石岩石海岸……给人一種似曾相識的感覺。

劇本是根據1966遠藤周作的同名小說改編。遠藤是以自已是日本天主教徒的觀點寫書，據說也曾蒙受宗教歧視。因此，整個劇情，以西方基督信仰的觀點來敘述，便不足為奇了。故事述說两位耶稣會的神父洛特里哥及卡爾倍，偷渡來到十七世紀日本禁教時代，試圖尋找並查証他們的導師費雷拉神父，已经背教並歸化日本的傳言。

沉默贯穿全片。天主對教士祈求的沈默；百姓冒死秘密信教的沉默，和那些選擇默存信仰於內心來取代為信仰而死亡者的沉默。洛神父的信仰，面臨殘酷的考騐。他要決擇如何在種種災難中前進。不屈的信仰引领全片，廹害也愈來愈殘酷。這是一項道德的難題，在不只你自已、還有許多的生命，都得賠上時，你要如何堅持信仰。背教只是一種外在型式- 踐踏基督的聖像。這樣，就代表真正背教嗎？

電影把日本官員醜化，也沒有試圖讓觀眾理解禁教事件的歷史背景。“好”日本人只有那些秘密信教的日本信徒。但觀眾不清楚、他們為何寧死也不願在十字架上吐口水; 他們以前是怎樣生话的。然而這些存疑也只在離場時才想到，說明這是一部有著豐富娛樂性的電影。

一個深沉、甚至有爭議性的故事，應該讓每個人看完後，都带着各自不同的疑問離場。

台北燈節

Taipei Lantern Festival

今年元宵，台北燈節主燈區，就在這熱鬧、吸引年輕人及遊客的西門町。舞台及燈光架起來了，主角是可愛溜著滑板的小奇雞, 與必勝哥雞, 粉美妹雞在空中較勁。小奇雞的造型木納，燈光及音響的穿插，企圖在十字路口，勉強的製造熱鬧氛圍。倒是舞台上的演員，熱力四放，頗有國際架式，一反台式鬧劇的通俗。

這次燈展，以雞和蛋為主題。中山堂除有光雕展外，廣場還有學生競賽燈區。花燈除雞外，還有觀音、林默娘等台灣民族特色燈出現。燈的設計與製造，都很亮眼。老老小小，在沒有車流的廣塲上，盡情拍照。主辦單位做出了台灣的，不一樣的燈節。

走出燈雕區，忽然看一個很大的「刺青客」，躺在路邊。烤漆的雕像，高5米 x 長8.5米、半躺的姿態，似曾相識。標示牌上說，靈感源自於梵蒂岡，西斯汀聖堂天花壁畫創世紀中，米開朗基羅所畫的亞當。並說：「亞當的左半邊、用傳統刺青紋身元素，來介紹台北的熱門景點 ; 右半邊則以街頭的塗鴉，來呈現日本的百鬼夜行」。作者自稱是融合西方、日本和西門汀型成「混搭風」，以展現熱情、狂野的青春魅力。拋開了解釋，這巨像卻是很典型的台灣產物，很「台」。小小的台北燈節，出人意表，大眾化中仍有細微的思考。

主辦單位有用心。民眾的支持，就是參與。期待明年會更好。

Coloring Life 活出色彩

Ha-r-bin 攝影作品

懸掛的巨石

活在當下

沉默(影評)

台北燈節