Just saw it a few hours ago and still trying to gather my thoughts about it (and very interested about what this sub has to say about it). Here's my quick take though:

This film has superb imagery and beautiful cinematography that really helps convey the harrowing atmosphere of uncertainty that pervades the story (in particular, the different depictions of torture/martyrdom). The violence is never gratuitous; instead it is depicted sparingly but with intensity. The many parallels with the life of Christ (notably a moment where Rodrigues ponders on Jesus’ words to Judas in John 13:27 and Kichijiro’s Judas-like arc) were also very thought provoking. Andrew Garfield is excellent giving an understated but impactful emotional performances (and while we don’t really see Adam Driver as much as I would have liked), the acting really is top notch. With the exception of the voice narration (which in the third act felt a little too expository imo) Scorsese’s subtle and effective direction is largely irreproachable, maintaining a sense of urgency and doubt throughout the entire film.

Silence astutely never absolves its colonial-era protagonists, notably interrogating the true nature of proselytism (I’m specifically thinking of the late “son of God” = “sun” reveal). Did the Jesuit priests really cause more good than harm? The film asks (and leaves you with) with many open-ended questions. My main criticism (and where I feel the film falls short of greatness) is that the viewer, after a slow and tortuous journey seems to be ultimately left with a slightly flat thesis about personal faith vs “the faith of the Church”. Indeed, while Rodrigues does feel conflicted about what he should do, rarely (if ever) does the film reflect on WHY he is doing it in the first place.

Albeit aiming for less grandeur, a good counterpart to Silence is, imo, Xavier Beauvois’ Des hommes et des dieux, which similarly explores the themes of faith, doubt and self-sacrifice, in the context of the Algerian civil war, but while delving deeper, on a character-development level, into the dilemma of conflicted faith.