HALLOWEEN REVIEW OF THE DAY: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Silence of the Lambs by many is considered to be one of the most terrifying movies ever to be put out in cinema. Well we all know the reason of that, thanks to Anthony Hopkins performance of the ever so charismatic yet psychotic and villainous cannibal Hannibal Lector. But before I get to what everybody else remembers about the movie, I will be looking at the things that are not well quite overlooked whenever there is a discussion about this film but definitely not talked about enough as Hannibal. First there's our main protagonist Clarice Starling, an FBI agent in training played by Jodie Foster. Through most of the movie she seeks Hannibal's help to find a psychopathic serial killer named Buffalo Bill, who I will also get to, and all while trying to rescue a kidnapped senator's daughter. What I like about this character is that I never really know if she was smart, naive, or both. Naive, yes I know, is a very strong word but it seems that a lot of the time, though she is in training, that she took up this assignment just to prove she is more than capable of handling a case, or maybe because she is in the top of her class and the head of the academy knows she is worthy to take this assignment. She is a good protagonist surrounded by mystery. There are also a few scenes in the movie where she finds herself in a room of men and always from her point of view the men seem to be staring at her funny. This sends a rather genius uncomfortable mood as it not only does the movie put the audience in her shoes in scenes like that but in the shoes of women most likely, so this would be an effect on men. Scenes like that make you want to root for the protagonist more so she can prove her independence, bravery, and can prove that she is not one to be taken advantage of. Plus we get to know more things about Starling such as her childhood which further helps her become an interesting character to help the audience know what kind of person she is. So I might have to take back the naive personality as most likely the audience might get this thought when seeing the movie for the first, but once we get to know Clarice more, the more we understand the purpose of her character. The next character I would like to talk about is the true main villain Buffalo Bill. I personally believe that this character is a lot more frightening than Hannibal, really because you can tell that there is nothing right with him and from the beginning the audience meets him, we know he is definitely not sane and that he is tragically mentally ill. And that's what makes him so frightening, his personality is so realistic and so is his actions. I think the director Jonathon Demme and actor Ted Levine did a great job of fully realizing this character to make him so greatly terrifying to the audience. Last but not least we come to Hannibal Lector himself. As I said before I do not think he is that scary as most people build him up to be, I think Buffalo Bill is a lot more terrifying. But despite that character is still a very good character. He may not be scary but there is certainly and intimidating factor about him. His character, like many good characters in the horror genre, is surrounded in clouded mystery, all you know about the guy is that he is a psychotic killer and a cannibal. But he does not act like you would expect him to act like once you hear about him the first time. His behavior and mannerisms are quite different in contrast to the horrible acts he had done in the past. He is very intelligent, classy, and very mannered but I think most of that is because he has this strange infatuation with Clarice. The relationship between Clarice and Hannibal is also pretty good. And when I say relationship I don't mean these characters are involved romantically with each other that would be pretty disturbing, I mean the way they work off each other and how they behave to one another. They only meet up with each other about a few times and within those few times even from the first meeting, the scenes and dialogue between the two are done so well to make their relationship believable and make it seem like the two knew each other forever. What I really like is that Clarice Starling is played off as a no nonsense and courageous character even when going up against somebody as terrifying as Buffalo Bill, but with Hannibal Lector she is somewhat intimidating by him, the mystery surrounding him, and the way he finds pleasure in knowing about Clarice's traumatic past and somehow getting into her head. Maybe that's why many people find Hannibal to be terrifying, maybe he seems more subtle that way more than Buffalo Bill to most. It is like to most that Buffalo Bill is actually the apprentice while Hannibal is the master, you know the guy can do worst things, is far more experienced in the art of being a homicidal, and is more intelligent so he can get away with his actions easier. He is like a ticking time bomb, you do not know when and how he is going to strike because he is a being unlike anyone has ever seen. And the build up to his scenes where he shows off his true talents as a killer is done really well, it's like the audience knows so little yet so much about him at the same they do not want to know how he performs his murders, but somewhere in the subconscious mind there is a curiosity. That is where this film really shines when it attacks both the conscious and unconscious mind, like in scenes where you know how certain scenes are going to turn out, but you just do not know HOW it will happen. A good example of this is when Hannibal Lector escapes from his imprisonment, or better yet during the climax where Clarice is in the dark trying to find Buffalo Bill. This has probably have to be one of the best set up and shot climaxes in all of cinema because most of it is shown through Buffalo Bill's point of view while wearing his night vision goggles as he sees Clarice frantically looking for him and trying to save her own skin, literally. This has to be one of the most interesting perspectives of shooting a climax, seeing it through the villains eyes. It works so well because the audience gets to see the protagonist's fear through the villains eyes and it really looks like a genuine fear. Clarice's facial expressions also during this scene are almost genuine, it is most likely that it is actress Jodie Foster's genuine expressions as she just stumbled through the dark deciding to look like she's panicking and they filmed from there. Silence of the Lambs is a very well done film with very good acting performances, very good and interesting characters, and a very good suspenseful story. The way it borrows elements from horror and incorporates it in its crime-thriller genre works really well, which is why I can fully understand the joy people get when they are terrified by what they are presented with in this classic. A great film to watch while you eat cow, not human, liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Grade: E