Great piece, Alan! Before I came into my own faith, I remember my mom struggling with her friends who had formed a group to try to ban this film from theaters. Even as a young kid, this made me so upset--if you believe you stand on , and your faith is formed by, truth than you shouldn't get hyper defensive about something you feel questions that truth. Truth, by nature, should be able to withstand ideas that oppose it. Argh. At any rate, this is a wonderful look at what is arguably one of Scorsese's most deeply personal films (I'd put Silence in this category as well).