Message from elizabethr

I happened to see this film after Christmas, not knowing that it depicted a portion of the Tokugawa Shogunate period that we learned about in Session 4. (I cannot show this film to my students, so I will look for something else for them.) This film is based on the novel "Silence", by Endo Shusaku. Mr. Shusaku said that he saw a (fumie) crucifix in a museum in Nagasaki that was well-worn, he surmised, from many Christians stamping their foot on it to denounce their belief in Christ. He understood how they must have felt, and said that he (as a Catholic) most likely would have done the same, rather than face persecution or death. It made him curious, and so he researched Jesuit archives and found a story of a man named Giuseppe Chiara, which abruptly ended in 1630. He created a possible scenario of what happened to him for his novel. The film changes the story slightly, depicting Portuguese priests, rather than Italian.
This could be a great film for high school. Portions are even suitable for junior high.

Although I cannot show the film 'Silence" to third grade students, I can show a portion of it to illustrate what life was like in Japan during the 1600's, and how it is different now by showing them a film my daughter made on her trip to Japan in 2015. She traveled there with her choir from California Baptist University and pieced together her footage and photographs set to music. If you would like to see it, please email me at [email protected]. I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing. It occurred to me as I watched it how much Japan has changed. It was quite a contrast.
edited by elizabethr on 1/22/2017