There’s a lot of thought process (read: passion and defining moments) behind the films of Martin Scorsese — whether they be on crime (with Robert De Niro — Goodfellas, Mean Streets), or on faith & religion (The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun).

After waiting for over a quarter century to adapt Shusako Endo’s 1966 novel of the same name, Scorsese reportedly went ahead and shot the film in just 73 days, wholly in Taiwan except for the cathedral scene in Macau.

17th century Portuguese Jesuit priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garrpe (Adam Driver) get the shocking news from their mentor of Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) having gone to Japan to propagate Christianity, but instead having converted to Buddhism himself and settling down there.

The incredulous Jesuits persuade their mentor to let them travel to the Far East. There they encounter the trials, tribulations – and torturous incidents – of the locals living in morbid fear of the Samurai-styled despots.

Beheadings, being hung upside down in pits to gradually bleed to death, or tied to stakes in water inlets and left to drown are some of the barbaric and savage forms of torture depicted.

Silence begs the question of whether it is (was) worth it for missionaries to have ventured and stuck their necks out (literally) in the face of deep-rooted hostility and inquisition.

There are some fine performances, notably by Issei Ogata as the Japanese Grand Inquisitor. Neeson, Driver and Garfield pitch in with sustained portrayals as the Jesuits.

Silence alludes to God’s muted response to the persecution inflicted on the locals practising Catholicism. It’s a panoramic epic, and an exquisite collaboration between director Scorsese and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.