Two Jesuit priests encounter persecution when they travel to Japan in the 17th century to spread Christianity and search for their mentor.
Cinematography
Mud and fog so tactile you can taste the despair
Acting
Mako's Kichijiro: cowardice as tragic performance art
Direction
Shinoda frames doubt like a horror film
Director
Masahiro Shinoda
David Lampson
Sebastião Rodrigues
Mako
Kichijiro
Eiji Okada
Inoue Chikugonokami
Rokkō Toura
Interpreter
Noboru Matsuhashi
Mokichi
Yoshi Katō
Old man
Taiji Tonoyama
Prison guard
Yasunori Irikawa
Okada Saemon
Tetsuro Tamba
Cristóvão Ferreira
Yoshiko Mita
Woman in Maruyama
Shima Iwashita
Kiku
Masaya Takahashi
Narrator (voice)
Junshi Shimada
Prisoner official
Tomo'o Nagai
Prisoner official
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Endō's novel was famously 'unfilmable'; Shinoda beat Scorsese by 44 years, though Marty's version has the budget this deserves.
The Kakure Kirishitan ('hidden Christians') depicted actually survived into modern Japan—some descendants still practice in secret today.
JP
