Silence Page #3

GARUPE:

Our guide. He can’t be a Christian.

RODRIGUES:

He says he’s not but can you believe

anything he says?

The Chinese Businessman takes Kichijiro away down the alley,

the taverners laugh.

GARUPE:

I don’t even want to believe he’s

Japanese.

CHINESE BUSINESSMAN

(shouting back to priests)

You see. He will be good!

The priests look at Kichijiro.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

"And he said to them: Go ye into the

whole world, and preach the gospel to

every creature." Even to one such as

this.”

As the priests watch him, wondering if they’ll regret their

decision.

12

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

So our Lord commanded. And as I

prepare to do His work, I see His face

before me.

CUT TO:

11 INT. RODRIGUES'S ROOM/MACAO MISSIONARY COLLEGE 11

Rodrigues lies on his simple bed, staring at the ceiling.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

“His face is fresh in my memory. Just

as I saw it the first time as a novice

in Evora. He looks as he must have

when He commanded Peter, ‘Feed my

lambs, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.’

“

CUT TO:

12 INT. CHAPEL OF THE EVORA NOVITIATE 12

CU:
The face of Christ in the image that Rodrigues remembers.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

“It's a face filled with vigor and

strength. It fascinates me. I feel

such great love for it. ”

From the face of Christ, we...

CUT TO:

13 EXT. MACAO HARBOR DAY 13

...the face of Valignano, standing on the dock in a misty rain,

surreptitiously giving a blessing. A tender boat carrying the

two priests, now disguised as Chinese sailors, moves toward a

sea-battered Chinese junk waiting beyond the harbor.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

“During the long weeks at sea the gift

of God’s trust sustained us both. We

never doubted His guiding hand. I

embraced this journey as I embraced my

vocation, with honest apprehension

about my own strength, but with joy,

too, that God has trusted me with this

chance.”

13

On the tender, the priests watch the figure of Valignano recede

into the SWIRLING MIST like a daub of paint into a fresco.

CUT TO:

14 OMITTED 14

15 OMITTED 15

15A EXT. JAPAN COAST 15A

THE FIRST SIGHT OF LAND. A dramatic image of land but highly

stylized to see the ominous nature of the landscape: a dark

outline, as if slashed with a calligrapher’s pen against the

last light of the sun. Mountains like sawtooths rising to the

darkening sky, narrow beaches that look like primeval rock

gardens, thick stands of trees blotting out the horizon. A

place of threat and trial.

16 EXT. CHINESE JUNK (OR TENDER WITH JUNK IN BACKGROUND) SUNSET 16

TIME CUT:
Rodrigues and Garupe on the deck.

RODRIGUES:

It looks like the edge of the earth.

A TINY BIRD ALIGHTS on the deck, near where Kichijiro is

standing, studying the horizon line. Kichijiro looks out (and

smiles?).

KICHIJIRO:

...Japan...

17 OMITTED 17

18 EXT. TENDER FROM CHINESE JUNK/NEAR TOMOGI SHORE NIGHT 18

On extreme close-up of Kichijiro's foot SPLASHING INTO the

water. He STUMBLES in the shallow water near shore, briefly

submerging in the chill current, which is thick with twigs.

Rodrigues and Garupe watch uneasily from the tender as

Kichijiro surfaces and LURCHES toward the land.

GARUPE:

We have trusted that man with our

lives.

14

RODRIGUES:

Jesus trusted even worse.

And he lowers himself over the side, into the water. Garupe

hesitates, then follows and they both make for the shore.

And now we see where we are. The tender is near the shore of

Tomogi as the Chinese Junk stays at a distance.

CUT TO:

19 EXT. TOMOGI BEACH NIGHT 19

As Garupe and Rodrigues come ashore, Kichijiro GESTURES for

them to hurry. They scurry forward toward a hollow rock like

animals being pursued by hunters they can only sense. As soon

as they reach shelter, Kichijiro is gone. It startles them.

GARUPE:

Kichijiro! Kichijiro! He’s gone to

betray us.

Their fear increases at the SOUND of something moving across

the rocky beach. Footsteps. Drawing closer. They huddle

together, caked with soggy sand and dirt, a couple of

landlocked sea rats.

RODRIGUES:

“Quod facis, fac citius.” “What

you will do, do quickly.”

Rodrigues and Garupe press themselves deep in the shadows of

the rock. Rodrigues is shivering. His teeth are CHATTERING.

Garupe reaches for his companion and holds his head against his

chest, trying to MUFFLE the sound.

GARUPE:

(fearfully)

"A band of soldiers went there with

lanterns and torches and weapons."

The priests duck back behind their meager shelter as...

...a LIGHT FLARES suddenly just in front of them.

The sound of feet, close now. And VOICES. The priests exchange

a FRIGHTENED GLANCE, then turn to see...

...the craggy, glowering face of an OLD MAN, looming over them.

His very lack of expression is menacing. He studies them for a

moment. A long, agonizing moment.

OLD MAN (ICHIZO)

Padre...

The priests are stunned to hear this word in their language.

The old man makes the sign of the cross. Tentatively,

trembling, Garupe blesses him.

ICHIZO:

Hurry. There is no time.

They SCRAMBLE to their feet as a group of a dozen villagers,

carrying torches, surround them.

GARUPE:

What is this place?

ICHIZO:

Tomogi village.

RODRIGUES:

Japan?

ICHIZO:

(nods agreement)

Please. Be quick. So gentios cannot

see you.

GARUPE:

Gentios?

The villagers swarm over the priests, rapidly covering them

with field hats and farmers’ overgarments. In their midst,

Kichijiro smiles at them with servile pride.

RODRIGUES:

(looking at Kichijiro)

The way of the Lord surpasses all

understanding.

With Kichijiro always near, the villagers form a protective

phalanx as they guide them off the beach.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

"‘Padre.’ ‘Gentios.’ Our own words

sounded so foreign here. But they were

a sign that the seed of our faith has

been sown, and survives with tenacity.

Now it is our mission to tend and

nurture it, lest it wither and die.”

16

...Rodrigues and Garupe exchange a look as they are hurried

inland.

CUT TO:

20 EXT. TOMOGI PATH/BRUSH NIGHT 20

Now away from the beach, Ichizo deliberately steps off the main

path and thrashes his way through the woods. The others follow.

The priests stumble, trying to keep up. The going is hard. The

villagers don’t give a moment to rest. They press on, hard.

RODRIGUES (V.O.)

“We were hurried to shelter because

our Christians feared betrayal by

those who had not embraced the faith.

Gentiles, they called them. Although

nearly all the two hundred families of

Tomogi had been baptized, many fell

under fear of the Inquisitor Inoue.”

A villager hands Kichijiro a bottle of local rice wine

(nigorizake), from which he takes liberal swigs.

CUT TO:

21 EXT. TOMOGI WOODS/VILLAGE NIGHT 21

The group comes out of the woods on a plateau just above the

village. Like haystacks in a rocky field, huts now loom close

before them. They move stealthily along this back way toward

the village. A man called MOKICHI draws even with them.

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