Silence (I) (2016)

Andrew Garfield: Rodrigues

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Quotes 

• Rodrigues : I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?

• Father Sebastião Rodrigues : [voice over]  Lord, I fought against your silence.

  Voice of Jesus : [voice over]  I suffered beside you. I was never silent.

  Father Sebastião Rodrigues : I know.

  [pause] 

  Father Sebastião Rodrigues : But even if God had been silent my whole life, to this very day, everything I do, everything I've done... Speaks of Him.

  [pause] 

  Father Sebastião Rodrigues : It was in the silence that I heard Your voice.

• Rodrigues : I worry, they value these poor signs of faith more than faith itself. But how can we deny them?

• Ferreira : We were taught to love those who scorned us.

  Father Sebastião Rodrigues : I feel nothing for them.

  Ferreira : Only Our Lord can judge your heart.

  [pause] 

  Father Sebastião Rodrigues : You said, "Our Lord."

  [pause] 

  Ferreira : I doubt it.

• Rodrigues : I feel so tempted. I feel so tempted to despair. I'm afraid. The weight of your silence is terrible. I pray, but I'm lost. Or am I just praying to nothing? Nothing. Because you are not there.

• Rodrigues : Surely God heard their prayers as they died. But did He hear their screams?

• Rodrigues : The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.

• Rodrigues : Father, how could Jesus love a wretch like this? There is evil all around in this place. I sense its strength, even its beauty. But there is none of that in this man. He is not worthy to be called evil.

• Rodrigues : I thought that martyrdom would be my salvation. Please, please, God, do not let it be my shame. The Lord is my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust. Of the Blood, all price exceeding, shed by our immortal King, destined for the world's redemption.

• Inoue : They can continue to be Christian. You may take some satisfaction in that. Because the roots are cut.

  Rodrigues : Nothing grows in a swamp.

• Rodrigues : Insult me all you like but give me more courage.

• Inquisitor Inoue : Padre, you missionaries do not seem to know Japan.

  Rodrigues : And you, honourable Inquisitor, do not seem to known Christianity.

• Ferreira : Rodrigues, please listen. The Japanese only believe in their distortion of our gospel. So they did not believe at all. They never believed.

  Rodrigues : How can you say that? From the time of Saint Francis Xavier, through your own time, there were hundreds of thousands of converts here.

  Ferreira : Converts?

  Rodrigues : Converts, yes!

  Ferreira : Francis Xavier came here to teach the Japanese about the son of God. But first he had to ask how to refer to God. "Dainichi", he was told. And shall I show you their Dainichi?

  [He points to the sun in the sky] 

  Ferreira : Behold... there is the SUN of God. God's only begotten sun. In the scriptures Jesus rose on the third day. In Japan... the sun of God rises daily.

• Garupe : It's too dangerous!

  Rodrigues : We asked for this mission.

• Rodrigues : These people are the most devoted of Gods creatures on Earth. Father Valignano, I confess I began to wonder - God sends us trials to test us and everything he does is good, and I prayed to undergo trials like his son - but why must their trials be so terrible, and why when I look in my own heart do the answers I give them seem so weak.

• Ferreira : The Japanese cannot think of an existence beyond the realm of nature. For them, nothing transcends the human.

  Rodrigues : No.

  Ferreira : They can't conceive of our idea of the Christian God.

  Rodrigues : No, you're wrong. You're wrong! They worship God. God, Our Lord. They praise the name of Deus!

  Ferreira : That's just another word for a god they never knew.

• Rodrigues : The black soil of Japan is filled with the wailing of so many Christians, the red blood of priests has flowed profusely, the walls of the church have fallen down.

• Rodrigues : ...surely God heard their prayers as they died... but did he hear their screams?