Religião enquanto busca espiritual no cinema de Martin Scorsese. Explorando itinerários religiosos nos filmes A última tentação de Cristo e Silêncio

Abstract

This thesis investigates the spiritual itineraries of the protagonists of the films The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Silence (2016) by filmmaker Martin Scorsese, tracing the path taken by Scorsese in these works and prioritizing the spiritual search of the protagonists and the director in this process. This is based on their existential experiences, such as family, New York City, the mafia, violence, and a punitive conception of religion. In view of this, the present study aims to analyze the path taken by the director through his cinematographic production. For this reason, the work emphasizes the images of the two films, in which the main characteristics of the characters and the whole panorama experienced in the fiction are expressed. Using as a film analysis tool, Melanie Wright's methodology (2007). Also, the description of crucial scenes in which the atmosphere of the plot is captured. It is important to emphasize that the analyses adopt the point of view of the protagonists, Jesus and Father Rodrigues, respectively, and do not prioritize the issues surrounding the narratives. Such as, for example, the perspective of the disciples (The Last Temptation of Christ) and Buddhism and Catholicism (Silence). For the present approach, some reflections of the theologian Paul Tillich will be adopted, aiming to use as a methodological model some of his texts that address the dynamics of faith, the courage to be, and art in Tillich. From this background, the proposal highlights the singularities related to the issues of faith and doubt articulated in the two films mentioned. The thesis defended is that, from an understanding of religion as a spiritual quest, Scorsese understands faith and doubt as complementary dimensions of the spiritual itinerary of the protagonists in the films analyzed. It can be deduced that the perception of cinema is broadened through the study of art in religion.