The Silence of the Lambs (1991): A Journey Through the Violent Subconscious

Silence of the Lambs Official Poster [Courtesy: Strong Heart Productions]

Cast:

• ·       Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
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• ·       Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling.
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• ·       Scot Glenn as Jack Crawford.
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• ·       Ted Levine as Jame ‘Buffalo Bill’ Gumb.

Directed by: Jonathan Demme

Rated: R

Running Time: 116 minutes

Have you ever felt the touch of evil? Have you ever seen the devil in its human incarnation? If the answer to these couple of questions is a resounding no, then you have got to see The Silence of the Lambs (1991). When Hannibal Lecter, played by the impeccable Anthony Hopkins, makes his first appearance in the movie as a cannibalistic serial killer, a viewer is bound to get goose bumps. His calm demeanour and disdain for ordinary intellect runs shivers down anybody’s spine. Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who eats his own victims, talks with uncanny clarity and shatters the confidence of the most utterly confidant man.

Jodie Foster, playing the role of a young FBI apprentice Clarice Starling, is sent to a secret mission to interview Lecter at the criminal asylum at Baltimore by her senior and special agent Jack Crawford, played by Scot Glenn. The idea is to extract information about another serial killer who goes by the name of Buffalo Bill, played by Ted Levine in the movie. Crawford, the agent in charge of investigating the case, believes that it takes one to catch one. Although Lecter is initially receptive to Starling, he shocks her by reading the ugly truths about her life. When another inmate at the asylum hurls semen at Starling, Lecter considers it ‘unspeakably ugly’ and advices her to go and search for one of his earlier patients.

What follows thereafter in the movie is nothing short of a journey through dark psychotic alleys and gore. Buffalo Bill, who skins his women victims, meanwhile abducts the daughter of a senator, played by Brooke Smith. Crawford makes use of this opportunity and concocts a fake deal with Lecter in lieu of his cooperation to catch Bill. The sadistic chief of the asylum Dr. Frederick Chilton, played superbly by Anthony Heald, records the conversation between Starling and Lecter and reveals that there is no such deal. Instead, he takes Lecter to Memphis to meet the senator, played by Diane Baker, whose daughter was earlier abducted by Bill. Lecter misguides and verbally abuses the senator. At this point, he agrees to help Starling in lieu of her personal information. Lecter informs Starling that Bill believes that he is a transsexual. Returning the favour, Starling reveals her disturbing childhood.

While being at Memphis, Lecter organizes one of the most striking and horrific escape acts in cinematic history and kills a couple of guards in the process. Starling, acting on Lecter’s advices, finds out that Bill is a skilled tailor and wants to make a true woman suit made out skin in his pursuit to become a woman. Acting on clues, she reaches the house of Bill, whose actual name is Jame Gumb, and kills Gumb after a terrifying chase sequences. She frees the senator’s abducted daughter in the process. Thereafter, during the FBI orientation ceremony, Lecter calls up Starling and reveals that he wouldn’t go after her as the world is far more interesting with her being there and expects her to return the favour. Lecter also reveals that he would be having an ‘old friend’ for dinner and we can see Dr. Chilton coming out of a flight at an airport in Bimini.

The film is replete with weird sexual fantasies, dark facts about characters, misogyny, sexual innuendos, gore, fear and thrill thus creating an unfaltering aura of horror and crime. Hopkins is brilliant in his portrayal of Lecter and steals the show by not going overboard with his acting. Although his screen presence is not a huge one, he creates a sense of fear even in scenes where he is not there. Foster plays the character of a resolute agent and triumphs in sticking to her goals despite being intellectually outmanoeuvred by Lecter on a number of occasions. It is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role although Foster was not the initial choice for playing the role.

The direction is almost flawless excepting the insertion of a little too many details to the discomfiture of the viewers. It is interesting to note how subtle elements make a huge difference to the overall look and feel of the movie, a perfect case in point being the scene where the short-heighted Starling is easily dwarfed by superior male colleagues at a lift. Another example could be the scene where Starling instructs the lascivious local policemen to leave the place where the skinned body of a victim is placed.

The LGBT community might scoff at the portrayal of Bill but this movie side-tracks the criticisms based on a number of psychological parameters. Contrary to popular beliefs, this film doesn’t promote homophobia, rather it shows Bill as a tortured character who hates himself. So, he wants to be as far from himself as he possibly could and hence his obsession with being a woman. The screenplay by Ted Tally is very tight and the music by Howard Shore is intense thus creating a sort of paranoia that could be experienced right throughout the movie. In other words, no film from the horror genre demands as much respect as The Silence of the Lambs. In fact, let us say that there is indeed the silence of the lambs at the end of the movie.

Author:

Dr. Sunayan Bhattacharjee