CINEMA – AT a time when the debate on the definition of secularism does not end up, where Donald Trump wishes to limit the entrance of muslims in the United States, some directors are dedicating their film to the religion. This is particularly the case of Martin Scorsese’s film “Silence”, tracing the journey of two ready-jesuit Portuguese, comes out this Wednesday, February 8, in France.
Adapted from a novel by Shusaku Endo, the filmmaker has put nearly twenty years to come to the end of his project. Funding issues, refusal on the part of some actors to join this project, Martin Scorsese has made his own way of the cross to go to the end of his idea. “As soon as one speaks of religion it becomes a problem”, launched the HuffPost during an interview on the 12th of January last. However, the director of the 74-year-old wished at all costs to tell the story of RodriguesAndrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) party in search of their mentor, father Ferreira (Liam Neeson).
Like him, this year, other filmmakers were not afraid to attack christianity. Mel Gibson in “Thou shalt not kill”, addresses the faith without fail a soldier, in “The innocent” Anne Fontaine attaches more to the universe of the religious world. The image of the pope has not been set aside in 2016, a biopic has been dedicated to Pope Francis last September and, on the small screen, this is the series of “the Young Pope” about the world of the pontificate that has wowed the spectators. Next spring, it is Romain Duris, who will be wearing the costume of a priest in “The Confession” alongside Marine Vacth.
Martin Scorsese interviewed by The HuffPost in Paris on the 12th of January last.
About lighthouse
Addressing religion in the cinema does not date from yesterday. Already in 1906, to the beginnings of the 7th art, a documentary was dedicated to “The life of Christ”. From the late 40s through to the 60s, it has never ceased to interest him. “religion has always been a favorites object for the cinema, a good part of the first films are religious films, scenes of the passion or of the lives of saint. [...] however, We can note that in the last ten years, films about religious figures, including priests, have a tendency to multiply, but also on the religious”, wishes to emphasize Franck Damour, professor of history and author of “the catholic Church in The mirror of contemporary fiction”.
If the subject is of interest to filmmakers, it fascinates also the crowds. “God is selling like hotcakes”, analysed USA Today in 2010. The “Passion of Christ” Mel Gibson has accumulated more than $ 360 million of revenue and nearly 2 million spectators in France; in 2010 the inevitable, “Of Gods and men” has been viewed more than 3 million times in dark rooms. But more than a choice of economic approach to film-making in this regard appears to be, above all, intimate.
personal Choice
If one focuses on Martin Scorsese, one realizes quickly that its connection with religion is strong. The former kid in the neighborhood Little Italy in New York, had its first link with catholicism at the age of 11 by the intermediary of a priest. A few years later, this is not the cinema that he wishes to devote his life to God. A decision to which he will forfeit after a year of seminary, a place for training priests.
“in The interests of Scorsese to the religion is no longer to prove. His first film ‘Who’s That Knocking on My Door’ and ‘Mean Streets’ clearly evoke its approach towards catholicism. Told through the character of Harvey Keitel, these films are personal and are a reflection of his childhood catholic in New York. ‘Taxi Driver’ is an interesting evolution of his approach to film and religion. This film is full of conflicts and meeting points between a catholic vision, and a vision protestant”, reminds us of Robert King, a film historian and specialist of the career of Martin Scorsese.
If Martin Scorsese has a very intimate, each filmmaker has his reasons for addressing this theme. “There are filmmakers, like Mel Gibson, who are practitioners and who consider it their duty to treat religious subjects; and there are others for which religion constitutes one of the parameters of the society and who are interested in it for this reason” says, when asked by HuffPost, Katerina Seraïdari, author of “visual Culture and christianity: the religious image in the cinema”.
Crisis social
last July, the director Stephen Frears came back to us on this quest for meaning. “I think that today more and more movies are based on real facts or fundamental to our culture as there is in our daily lives, more and more strange facts, bizarre. I believe that ultimately the facts and the reality of today far exceed the fiction. Maybe what I am just trying to do today is understand. I may be trying to explain to me the world”, we confided it to justify having done a biopic.
According to the one who brought “Les Liaisons dangereuses” to the screen, creating this kind of film would better understand what we saw. Notice that he does not share completely Franck Damour. “Pread that the lack of benchmarks, it is the lack of a future that has our society and, in the eyes of these filmmakers, these religious figures often embody the possibility of a future”, considers the expert.
Katerina Seraïdari, this phenomenon has rather filmmakers in search of an analysis of the world today. “The crisis leads to the return of the religious: the case of Russia is obvious, with this passage from atheism to the new role given to the orthodoxy. In Turkey also, with the passage of kemalisme secular islam. Even in France, the candidate of the right claimed openly his commitment as a practicing christian, something amazing for a secular State like France. Given this crisis at the global level, the return of the religious -which is effective-can only be a concern for filmmakers who want to talk about in the world today”, she says.
As the Rodrigues and Garrpe, the central characters of “Silence”, the filmmakers seem to be in quest of sense. Rodrigues has also repeatedly throughout the film to question her faith in the face of silence disconcerting to the one in which he believes. Pushed to apostatize, that is to say, to abandon his faith, he feindra for years, his conversion to buddhism until one discovers to his death he was not. Rodrigues had made of her faith, by hiding it in the depths of him, something extremely personal. And if you took it out of the seed?
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