Silence

"As a lapsed Catholic I’m always keen on a tale that documents the folly, arrogance and optimism of religious conversion and missionary zeal, especially in a colonial setting. Also, I like Japanese food and Scorsese pictures so what could go wrong?"

"A taxing film that will not only hold up to multiple viewings, but practically demands them."

"Scorsese blends his twin religions of Catholicism and cinema to considerable effect."

"Scorsese has hit the rare heights of Ingmar Bergman and Carl Theodor Dreyer, artists who found in religion a battleground that often left the strongest in tatters. It's a movie desperately needed at a moment when bluster must yield to self-reflection."

"There's a crushing lack of urgency to this story and its telling, perhaps because it took Mr. Scorsese, who wrote the script with Jay Cocks, so long to make "Silence.""

"With ambition and reach, and often a real dramatic grandeur, Scorsese's film has addressed the imperial crisis of Christian evangelists with stamina, seriousness and a gusto comparable to David Lean's."

"This anguished, contemplative new movie, which [Scorsese] spent nearly three decades coaxing into celluloid reality, carries the weight of a career summation."

"...of his [Scorsese's] explicitly religious dramas, specifically including Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ, this is, by a considerable distance, the most eloquent and coherent."

"It's rather less than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are magnificent."

"Less showy than The Last Temptation Of Christ, more gripping than Kundun, the third part of Scorsese's unofficial 'religious' trilogy is beautifully made, staggeringly ambitious and utterly compelling."