Silence of the Lambs

This week we got to watch the film Silence of the Lambs. A film based on a book of the same name by Thomas Harris. The movie, in case you've been living under a rock for the last twenty years or so, is about a woman named Clarice who's tracking a serial killer named Buffalo Bill, with the help of everyone's favorite psychopathic serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter.

Okay first of all, let me start this by saying I'm a huge Anthony Hopkins fan. I adore the man. I love everything I've seen with him in it and this film is no exception. I loved it. And I have loved it since I first saw it years ago. In fact I used this class as an excuse to buy the film on bluray. So if you don't want to read me carry on about how much I love this movie and Anthony Hopkins click out now. Still here? Okay, let's do this thing.

The first thing I want to talk about in this film is how well it's acted. 90% of the films awesomeness is in casting Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The man was mad brilliant. I've not seen the script so I'm just guessing here, but the man brought a whole level to Lecter that no one else could do. He made him real and charming and just deeply disturbed. Yes, the writing was brilliant but had they cast anyone else to play Hannibal it would not have worked. It needed the magic that only Anthony Hopkins could bring to the table.

The second thing I would like to talk about was how well cut together this film was. I mean the editing people did A++ work on this film. The reveal scene was so well cut together that if you didn't already know what was going to happen, then you wouldn't know what was going to happen. It's the sort of thing that in writing may not be easy to pull off. But in film it not only worked but it was awesome.

Also worth talking about here is how well crafted the psychos are in this book. Becuase yes there are two, and no they are not alike. And they are both so well done. My psych degree makes it so I  have a hard time with some versions of psychos as believable. I did not get that from Hannibal or Buffalo Bill. It was clear that the writer and the actors did thier research and thier jobs to a T. To which I say bravo gentlemen, you slayed it.

There's a reason that this movie is a classic. Because it's awesome. The story is good. The acting (thanks mostly to Anthony Hopkins) was brilliant. And the dialogue was incredible and real. The whole film was just well done and I highly recommend it to anyone.

Works Cited

The Silence of the Lambs. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. & Jodie Foster Anthony Hopkins. 1991. Bluray.