Recommended. It is hard to understand the great cruelty of the Japanese shogun relentlessly depicted in Silence, Martin Scorsese’s lovingly filmed epic. Perhaps - - however - - if the American indigenous people had been as resolute towards their Christian invaders, I'd be typing in Apache. But harder still than this to understand the is the ardor of the young Portuguese Jesuits to spread their religion. Between these points of view are the true great walls of history. Yet the actual cruelty considered by Scorsese is titular, the silence of God in the face of crushing faith and agonizing doubt. Silence plays with our sympathies right up to the final scene. Liam Neeson,(Gangs of New York) but more so, Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) and Issei Ogata (The Sun ) skillfully toy this catspaw. The Academy-nodded photography (Rodrigo Prieto, Babel) is breathtaking. This brutal movie is not for everyone . . . but it is a masterwork.