is a 1971 Japanese

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

film directed by

Masahiro Shinoda was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio fro ...

, based on the novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō. It stars

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He appeared in nearly 300 film and television productions, both in leading and supporting roles, and was the winner of two Japan Academy Film Prizes. At the height of his career, he wa ...

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress, singing, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also perf ...

, Eiji Okada, and

Shima Iwashita is a Japanese stage and film actress who has appeared in films of Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi and most frequently of Masahiro Shinoda, her husband. She is best known for starring in the '' Yakuza Wives'' series of yakuza ...

alongside English actors David Lampson and Don Kenny. Endo co-wrote the screenplay with Masahiro Shinoda. Most of the film's dialogue is in Japanese, though it has short sequences in English. It was entered

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

into the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, and won four

Mainichi Film Awards The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by '' Mainichi Shimbun'' (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of ...

including Best Film and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

. The film's themes analyze the conflict of human nature versus divine requirements and their compatibility, life's purpose, the interplay of emotional needs, suffering, and contentment. The storytelling device the film uses is circumstantial and depicts the struggles of life, allegorical presentation, and Christian theology. It is the first of three movie adaptations of the novel, succeeded by the Portuguese '' Os Olhos da Ásia'' in 1996 and the 2016 American film of the same name.

Plot

In the 17th century, two Portuguese

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priests, Rodrigo and Garupe, travel to Japan to

proselytize Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Carrying out attempts to instill beliefs can be called proselytization. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between Chris ...

despite a formal ban on the practice or promotion of Christianity. They also search for their mentor Ferreira, with whom they lost contact five years prior and presume is imprisoned. Rodrigo is patronizing and Garupe is cautious. The two priests are overwhelmed with the welcome they receive from the persecuted Japanese Christians, but occasionally wish for some comfort food from home. They travel to the village of Kichijiro, the fisherman who smuggled them into Japan from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Returning, they learn that a detachment of Japanese officials and

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

have arrived to search for them. With most of their flock taken into custody or tortured for refusing to betray them, the two priests decide to leave but they become separated. Kichijiro finds Rodrigo and joins with him; he confesses to Rodrigo he is a weak man, and that his family was slaughtered for being Christians. Nagasaki Magistrate Inoue's men capture Rodrigo and throw 300 pieces of silver at Kichijiro (reminiscent of

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of sil ...

). He later gives away the money to a prostitute for emotional support. Inoue takes Rodrigo to Nagasaki and puts him on trial. Later, he and other prisoners are forced to watch as a Christian samurai family are publicly humiliated and threatened for practicing Christianity; the wife, Kiku, recants, and the husband is put to death for his defiance. Kichijiro, guilt-ridden for his treachery, sneaks into the holding cell, asks Rodrigo to forgive him. He says he betrayed Rodrigo because everyone shamed him for recanting his faith and so he despises anyone who reminds him of it. Inoue, through his interpreter, invites Rodrigo for a talk in private. Inoue says the Catholic Church is unwanted in Japan, comparing Rodrigo's faith to a concubine who makes trouble for a man's conscience. Rodrigo says the truth of the Church is universal and as the happiness between a man and woman is disturbed, the State disturbs the efforts of the Church to spread its teachings of peace and brotherhood. Each accuses the other of ignorance, but Inoue is eventually swayed somewhat by Rodrigo's conviction. Nonetheless, he is bound by the shogun's law to ban Christianity. Later Rodrigo is taken to the seaside and sees Garupe, who has been taken prisoner along with his Japanese companions. The interpreter tells Rodrigo that Inoue wants him to witness Garupe apostatizing his faith; if he fails to do so, the Japanese converts will be killed. While Garupe's companions are drowned one by one, the priest defies his captors, frees himself, and jumps into the sea. He tries to pull the drowning victims to safety but is stabbed at by spear-wielding samurai and slowly loses his strength until he drowns as well. Later, Rodrigo is taken to a Buddhist temple to visit Inoue's friend, Lord Chuan Sawano. Sawano turns out to be Ferreira, who has apostatized and is working under Inoue as an

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

scholar, tasked with exposing errors and inconsistencies in the Bible and other Christian writings. Sawano advises his former student to renounce the Church and Christianity; Rodrigo rebukes him. Sawano says he preached in Japan for twenty years, and he knows this is not a land where Christianity can be rooted but a terrifying swamp where seedlings can rot and die and the

inculturation In Christianity, inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics and the Orthodox, whereas Protestants (such as Anglicans and Lutherans), especially associated ...

of Christianity is the worst. Rodrigo rejects all these claims and censures him by saying that this wouldn't be the attitude of Saint Xavier. Rodrigo is then hung upside down in a pit with a small incision at the back of his ear for the blood to drip slowly. Sawano visits him and explains that three newly recanted Christian believers have been hung upside down next to him for the past six hours. Sawano says he was in the same cell where Rodrigo is now and was hung for two days and there were five men who were hung in the pit, and he can still hear their voices. The former priest admits that the real reason he renounced his faith was not because of the torture, but the absence of God in others' suffering. Rodrigo replies those who are in suffering will receive eternal happiness for their pain. Sawano mocks him, and notes that if Rodrigo sacrifices his faith for the sake of love, the other three men will be spared and given medical treatment. The interpreter comes with a fumi-e and encourages Rodrigo to step on it as Sawano watches and chants silently. Rodrigo steps on the fumi-e and a rooster crows twice (reminiscent of Saint Peter's

denial Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings: * the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true; * the refusal of a request; and * the assertion that a true statement is fal ...

). Later, a complacent Rodrigo is shown helping Inoue's officers to identify forbidden Christian objects being smuggled in by foreign ships. Rodrigo is asked to comment on a cup, and he says it's not a chalice because the stem would have been longer. He eventually becomes a samurai and is given Kiku as his wife; from that day forward, he is given her dead husband's name Sanemon Okada as Ferreira was given the title of Lord Sawano. A happy Kichijiro is shown sweeping the surroundings.

Cast

* David Lampson as Sebastian Rodrigo * Don Kenny as Francisco Garupe *

as Cristóvão Ferreira *

Mako Iwamatsu was a Japanese-American actor, credited mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply Mako (マコ), pronounced "MAH-ko". His career in film, on television, and on stage spanned five decades and 165 productions. He was an Academy Aw ...

as Kichijiro * Rokko Toura as The Interpreter * Eiji Okada as Inoue *

Yoshi Katō was a Japanese stage and film actor who appeared in nearly 180 films between 1948 and 1988. Biography After leaving Keiō Gijuku High School prematurely, Katō gave his stage debut in 1934. He later joined the Shinkyo Theatre Company, which was ...

as Old Man * Noboru Matsuhashi as Mokichi *

as Kiku * Yûsuke Takita as Ichizo

References

External links

* {{Mainichi Film Award for Best Film 1971 films 1971 drama films 1970s historical drama films Japanese historical drama films 1970s Japanese-language films Films about Catholic priests Films about Christianity Films based on Japanese novels Films based on works by Shūsaku Endō Films directed by Masahiro Shinoda Films set in the 1630s Films set in the 1640s Films set in feudal Japan Catholic Church in Japan Persecution of Christians Society of Jesus Toho films 1970s English-language films 1970s Japanese films English-language historical drama films