The year 2016 will be coming to a close in just a few short weeks, but we're still waiting on the latest film from one of the greatest directors of all time. Martin Scorsese's Silence, which just debuted its gorgeous first trailer last week, is on tap to be given a limited release on December 23rd, preparing it for a run at the Oscars. Before it arrives to a theater near you, however, the major awards contender will be having its world premiere at the most appropriate of places: the Vatican.
The Guardian has the news about the plans for the first ever screening of Silence, and it definitely doesn't sound like it will be your typical movie premiere. Set to take place this Tuesday, November 29th, it looks like the event won't have the normal red carpet and cavalcade of stars , but instead will be a more low-key affair. Pope Francis is not expected to be in attendance, but Martin Scorsese will be showing his latest feature at the Pontifical Oriental Institute for the Jesuits to a crowd that includes 400 priests.
This makes all kinds of sense when you take into consideration the content of the film. Based on the acclaimed novel by by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, the story is set in the 17th century, and centers on a pair of Jesuit priests played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield. The two men learn that their mentor (Liam Neeson) has been tortured and renounced his faith, and travel to Japan in hopes of rescuing him. Unfortunately, this proves to be an incredibly challenging and dangerous task, as while trying to spread the word of Jesus Christ, they find themselves subject to violence and persecution due to their religion being banned in the country.
The film has been a passion project of Martin Scorsese's for nearly 30 years, and for the filmmaker is a return to the subject of faith, which has been an important theme throughout his career. The director first read Silence in 1989, and while he has attempted many times to get the movie made, each time he wound up facing delays of a wide variety. In recent years, projects like Hugo and The Wolf Of Wall Street wound up moving forward instead of Silence, but Scorsese found his opportunity to start production last year in Taiwan, and leaped at the chance.
You can get a taste of what to expect from Silence watching the trailer below (get yourself ready for some serious beauty and intensity):
At this time it's unclear if we will start hearing the first reactions to Silence once it premieres at the Vatican this week - but if not, the good news is that we won't have to wait too much longer for reactions to start coming in. While the film is set to get a limited release on December 23rd, it will be expanding nationwide in January 2017.
