Jesuits in 17th-century China and Japan

While Martin Scorsese prepares his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s Silence AKA Chinmoku, a couple other items regarding films about Jesuit missionaries and Christian martyrs in 17th-century Asia popped up in my news feed this morning.

First, Doug Cummings at FilmJourney.org says he has just finished writing the liner notes for an upcoming DVD release of the previous adaptation of Endo’s novel, which was written by Endo himself and directed by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. The DVD will be released as part of the Masters of Cinema series.

Second, Variety reports that some Spanish filmmakers are now working on a movie about Jesuits in 17th-century China:

Zebra Producciones has inked with broadcaster Antena 3 to produce the China-set “El manuscrito Ricci” (The Ricci Manuscript), a movie budgeted at north of $13.4 million and set to shoot in China.

Pic’s screenplay is being written by director-scribe Joan Potau, Curro Royo (“The Suicides’ Club”) and Carlos Martin (“Swindled”).

A fictional historical adventure pic set in the 17th century, “Ricci” turns on two Jesuits dispatched to search for the Jesuit diplomat and translator Mateo Ricci, who forged relations between the Jesuits and China.

Ricci’s manuscript, they discover, can warp the delicate balance of power between protestants and catholics in Europe.

Sounds interesting, though there is nothing at the Wikipedia entry on Ricci to indicate why anything in his possession might have affected the “balance of power” between the European churches.