Rico R. Peñaredondo Jr.

BSA- AC12
Ateneo de Naga University

Synopsis

Fr. Rodriguez and Fr. Garupe are the last two priests and Portuguese
missionaries who went to Japan to their mission to find Fr. Ferreira and also to preach
the Christianity.
Kichijiro leaded the voyage to Japan. They went to Tomogi village. But the two
priests have been abandoned by Kichijiro. Eventually, they found a group of Japanese
Christian villagers. The villagers welcomed the two priests wholeheartedly.
They also visited the Goto village where Kichijiro lived. They stayed there for a
few days.
The Inquisitor visited the Goto Village. He warned the villagers about their
religion. After three days, they punished four villagers.
Fr. Rodriguez and Fr. Garupe had separated. Rodriguez went back to Goto while
Garupe went to Hirado to continue their mission.
While Rodriguez is drinking water at the stream, he was captured by the people
of the Inquisitor. He found out that he was betrayed by Kichijiro.
He was imprisoned at Nagasaki.
He witnessed the apostilization of Fr. Garupe.
At that time, he was depressed because of what happened.
One day, he was brought to the Inquisitor. He met his former teacher, Fr.
Ferreira. Ferreira explained everything. He told Rodriguez to abandon his faith. But
Rodriguez refuses.
Fr. Rodriguez cannot resist on what he had seen. He looked at the Christians
who are in the pit. At the end, he was forced to step on the image of Jesus.
They served to the Inquisitor for the rest of their lives.

Reflection
Rico R. Peñaredondo Jr. BSA- AC12
Ateneo de Naga University

Culture is one of the things that makes us whole. It is the one that solidifies our

self. Every person has their own accustomed culture. We can’t deny that we have

different cultures.

In the movie “Silence”, I see the dominance of the Christian culture in Japan. I

see that the majority of the Japanese are Christians. They know about God, Jesus, and

everything about them. We all know that during the 14th century, Christianity is one of

the dominant religions in Japan. But upon entering the 15th century, the government of

Japan banned the entering of the Christian missionaries and also the Christian religion.

The government of Japan want Buddhism to be the primary religion of Japan. So they

get rid of the Christianity.

My understanding about the movie is a culture can be forcibly removed by the

other person or people who have different cultures. They have done it in different ways.

Like for example, the Inquisitor wants to eliminate the Christian religion so he forced the

Japanese Christians to abandon their faith in Christ and join the Buddhist religion. They

forced them to exploit every thing that they believe about God. If they did not follow that,

they will be punished. Another event that can be connected to that is what happened to

St. Pedro Calungsod in Japan. He was tortured by the Japanese because he is a

Christian missionary. He was also forced to abandon his faith in God. This means that

the Japanese government want their own culture to dominate the entire Japan and get

rid of the other cultures.

Rico R. Peñaredondo Jr. BSA- AC12
Ateneo de Naga University

What I’ve noticed also is the term “You have been defeated not because of your

God. You have been defeated because of the swamp”. Japan is considered as a

swamp because no roots were grown to it. It means that no culture can grow up on that

place because of the hindrances that triggers that culture not to grow up. That is what

happened to Christianity in Japan, according to the movie. There are many hindrances

why this religion did not grow up on that country.

But whenever the culture you have had forcibly removed to you, you will still

embrace it no matter what. You still have the roots of the culture that you accustomed.

Like for what happened at the last part of the movie.