Character study that's hard to fathom

GOD works in strange and mysterious ways, the faithful are led to believe, but there are times when even He fails to answer the call - and the silence can be deafening.

Two devoted young Jesuit priests embark on a mission to 17th-century Japan in search of a long-missing colleague, expecting to administer to Christians enduring repression and worse under an intolerant regime. What they encounter is a theological dilemma that rattles their belief systems and threatens their souls.

The passion of Martin Scorsese was the driving force behind Silence, a long (very long) film written by Scorsese and Jay Cocks about those two priests who journeyed from Portugal to a fog-shrouded foreign land that looked a lot like…