Silence Page #13

RODRIGUES:

Why are you looking like that? Why are

you so calm? Don’t you understand?

We’re all going to die like that.

Soon.

They look at him with growing astonishment and he immediately

begins to feel remorse for his outburst. He forces down the

last bite of cucumber.

RODRIGUES:

Thank you...for the food.

MONICA:

Arigataya. But Padre...our

father...Padre Juan...said if we die

we will go to paraiso.

RODRIGUES:

Paradise, yes...

MONICA:

Isn’t it good to die? Paraiso is so

much better than here. No one hungry,

never sick. No taxes, no hard work.

RODRIGUES:

(conciliatory)

Padre Juan was right. There’s no work

in paraiso. No taxes, no hunger.

Nothing can be stolen from you. And

there’s no pain....

(MORE)

65

RODRIGUES (cont'd)

(beat)

Were there other priests?

MONICA:

Only Padre Juan.

RODRIGUES:

Was there a Padre Ferreira?

(as Monica struggles to

pronounce the name)

Ferreira? Did you ever hear of him?

Monica shakes her head. Rodrigues LOOKS AWAY toward the OLD

SAMURAI approaching with two peasants. He seems to be stepping

straight out of the broiling sun. He DEFTLY WIELDS A FAN to

ward off FLIES that buzz perpetually in the steaming air and

SQUATS on the ground.

OLD SAMURAI:

You all, I wish you would stop causing

me so much trouble - please - in this

heat, and the dust. They are

especially bad this year. We shouldn’t

be traveling so far at our age. And

it’s all so unnecessary. Just make a

little effort to understand our point

of view. We don’t hate you. There’s no

real reason for this trouble. You’ve

brought it on yourself. And you can

rid yourself of it too.

They keep their eyes on the ground, not looking at him.

OLD SAMURAI:

No need to feel lost. I’ll give you

time to think it over. Then you can

give me a reasonable answer. Go on

now.

He gestures them away and they RISE. Rodrigues gets up with

them but the Old Samurai SNAPS OUT...

OLD SAMURAI:

Not you!

(beat)

You stay.

Rodrigues, startled, sits back down on the ground. The Old

Samurai stands, sips from a cup of water.

OLD SAMURAI (cont'd)

You understood what I was saying to

them? Your Japanese is good enough?

RODRIGUES:

I saw your eyes.

OLD SAMURAI:

And what did you think you saw there?

(Rodrigues does not answer)

They’re fools, those peasants.

Rodrigues GLANCES AT the prisoners being led away.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

Lord spare them suffering and keep

them safe in Your hand.

OLD SAMURAI:

They can talk among themselves without

end and decide nothing. Not one can

think for himself. But you understand,

don’t you?

RODRIGUES:

Just say what you mean.

OLD SAMURAI:

That it all depends on you whether

they are set free. Your Kirishitan God

is sensible, at least in some things.

Let him tell you to deny your faith.

RODRIGUES:

And if I refuse you’ll kill me? “The

blood of martyrs is the seed of the

church.” Like the priests in Omura and

Nagasaki.

The Old Samurai looks at him sharply.

OLD SAMURAI:

Been thinking about this, have you?

Killing the peasants makes it worse.

If they can die for their Deusu they

think it only makes them stronger.

RODRIGUES:

If you have to do it, punish me alone.

OLD SAMURAI:

(angry)

You do not speak like a good priest.

(MORE)

67

OLD SAMURAI (cont'd)

If you are a real man, a truly good

priest, you should feel pity for the

Kirishitan. Isn’t that so, Padre?

Isn’t that so?

He gets up. Rodrigues does not respond.

OLD SAMURAI (cont'd)

The price for your glory is their

suffering.

CUT TO:

79 INT. TINY HUT OF TWIGS DAY 79

This is the hut that Rodrigues glimpsed in the distance in the

previous scene. Guards PUSH him inside. He loses his balance

and falls to the dirt. The guards laugh and leave.

He tries to pray. He recites the Pater Noster and the Ave

Maria, but the words are dry in his mouth.

A BURST OF LIGHT hits him. The INTERPRETER is silhouetted

against the outside light. Rodrigues’ face remains in full

light that is sometimes so strong he has to BLINK.

INTERPRETER:

Padre?

(continues in heavy accent)

Louvado seja Deus, nosso Pai.

RODRIGUES:

(replies, smiling slightly)

Praise be to Him.

INTERPRETER:

The Portuguese language was a gift of

your Father Cabral. I’ve been asked to

interpret on your behalf.

RODRIGUES:

Behalf?

INTERPRETER:

(continuing)

There was concern that we might miss

certain subtleties in your

testimony...

RODRIGUES:

Testimony...

INTERPRETER:

(still continuing on)

...if you were confined to Japanese.

We wanted to be fair. And we do have a

better grasp of your language than you

do of ours. Cabral could never manage

much more than arigataya. All the time

he lived here he taught but would not

learn. He despised our language, our

food, our customs.

RODRIGUES:

I’m not like Cabral.

INTERPRETER:

Really?

(pause)

Would you like to go outside? We do

not think you’ll run.

RODRIGUES:

Are you sure? I’m not a saint and I’m

afraid of death.

INTERPRETER:

I admire your honesty, Padre. Courage

can so often be blind. But that is the

kind of courage that does violence to

us and causes us endless trouble.

RODRIGUES:

Is that all you think we brought you?

Violence and endless trouble?

INTERPRETER:

We have our own religion, Padre. Pity

you did not notice it.

RODRIGUES:

We think a different way.

INTERPRETER:

True. You say our Buddhas are all men.

RODRIGUES:

A Buddha dies too. Like all men. He is

different from the Creator.

INTERPRETER:

You are ignorant, Padre. Only a

Christian would see Buddhas simply as

men. Our Buddha is a being which man

can become.

(MORE)

INTERPRETER (cont'd)

Something greater than himself, if he

can overcome all his illusions. But

you cling to your illusions and call

them faith.

(Rodrigues does not reply)

Your Creator is all loving and all

merciful, so you believe. Then why

does he give people so much suffering

on the way to heaven?

RODRIGUES:

You don’t understand. If any man

observes God’s commandments, he...

INTERPRETER:

(interrupting)

I do understand, Padre. It’s perfectly

simple. Korobu. Do you know this word?

You should know it. It means fall

down. Surrender. Give up the faith.

Apostatize, as you say. Do it or your

dear peasants will enjoy one of those

trials that come so often from your

God. They will see the world from His

vantage. From above. But they will be

upside down, hanging over a pit.

Things start to look very different

from there. They did to Fathers Porro

and Cassola. Have you heard of them?

There was one called Pedro, too. And

Ferreira of course.

RODRIGUES:

Ferreira?

INTERPRETER:

Did you know him?

RODRIGUES:

I’ve heard of him.

INTERPRETER:

No doubt. He’s well known all over

Japan now. The priest with the

Japanese name. And the Japanese wife.

RODRIGUES:

(stunned)

I don’t believe you.

INTERPRETER:

You can ask anyone. People in Nagasaki

point him out and marvel.

70

Rodrigues SHAKES HIS HEAD, trying to deny what he’s heard. The

Interpreter sees that his information has made an impact.

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