THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A dark and fascinating thriller that is
a genuine departure in the depiction of the psychopathic
killer on the screen. Hannibal Lecter is a screen villain as
memorable as Norman Bates. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4).
Since 1959 the psychopathic killer has, perhaps unfortunately, become a staple of popular film. Most films that had psychopaths before that point really blurred the distinction between your garden variety murderer and the actual psychopath. Perhaps one notable exception was THE BAD SEED, which suggested that there could be something like a "congenital evil." Extreme criminality and madness were very much equated. That was very much what was meant with "mad scientists" of the old horror films. There was an urge to deny the existence of evil or to relegate it to the supernatural. How many people even today deny the culpability of Adolf Hitler and say instead that he was simply mad. There were some films that suggested that there was something more to criminal insanity than just extreme criminality, but it was Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO that turned the cinematic view around. Norman Bates was himself a victim as well as the perpetrator of his acts. Bates was a normal person twisted by his past and driven by forces he could not control. This is a marvelously egalitarian view of the criminally insane. It assumes that all men (and women) are created equal. This is probably an equally invalid view of the criminally insane. When John Hurt played Caligula in I, CLAUDIUS, he described his character as "congenitally bonkers." In all probability that was fairly accurate. It is at least my belief that Caligula was genuinely insane and Hitler was not. This view of the pitiful victim-psychopath became the dominant view in films with PSYCHO and it has remained dominant. With John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978) there was a new view, or perhaps an old view harkening back to medieval beliefs, that the psychopathic killer is a supernatural force. Fortunately, few films have picked up on this idea and most that have have large Roman numerals in their titles.
Thomas Harris has a different concept of the psychopathic killer which, if no more credible than the supernatural force, s at least more intriguing. He created the idea in his novel RED DRAGON, which Michael Mann adapted into his 1986 film MANHUNTER. The idea was expanded in his SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, which has been adapted into a film by Jonathan Demme. Harris's concept is that psychopaths have a distinctly different form of intelligence. Their reasoning power is consistent and logical, but alien to our own. If you cannot bridge the gap and think like a psychopath, you are at a distinct disadvantage in dealing with them. In addition, the psychopath often has superhuman sensory powers. For example, Harris's Hannibal Lecter, in addition to a super-intellect, apparently has a heightened sense of smell. I believe these are ideas that owe their origin more to Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" than to actual case histories. But where Harris is really superb is in being able to make Lecter's reasoning really seem brilliant. It is extremely difficult to write a character who is supposed to be brilliant. To see how poorly it can be done, try going back and listening to Lex Luthor's reasoning about Kryptonite in SUPERMAN (1978). Lecter's reasoning is at once perverted and brilliant.
MANHUNTER and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS are two of what have to be at least four stories involving Hannibal Lecter. And they are probably the two least interesting. When RED DRAGON begins, Lecter has already been captured by Will Graham, who made himself into a psychopath in order to catch Lecter in the first place. Graham needs Lecter's help to capture another psychopath. In THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, fledging FBI agent Clarice Starling (no pun intended) (played by Jodie Foster) similarly must enlist Lecter's (Anthony Hopkins's) help to find a killer. This time, however, Lecter thinks he can work his own deal. While this story does conclude, there is still a major loose end that really demands yet another story.
In this story the primary villain is a killer whom the press has dubbed Buffalo Bill. The killer not only murders his victims, he later skins them. Starling is chosen to talk to Dr.~Lecter about the crimes with an eye toward getting his unique insight into how to capture Buffalo Bill. Starling, however, has her own personal demons inside and Lecter is just the person to turn those demons against her. In the book the main story is how Starling catches the killer, with the Lecter story being a major subplot. The film reverses the importance of the two plots by leaving the Lecter plot intact, if not actually expanded, and cutting drastically the Buffalo Bill plot.
The character of Lecter seems calculated to play off every anti- intellectual prejudice in the audience. The man is an ice-cold, emotionless intellect. He listens to ice-cold, emotionless music. Even when he kills we are told that he is ice-cold and emotionless. In one chilling detail the character is defined. We are told that he attacked and partially ate a victim without his pulse ever going over 80.
Stylistically the film is well handled generally. At times the music is a bit overly dramatic in underscoring the mood as if Howard Shore, the composer, did not trust Hopkins's acting to convey a mood of menace. If that was the case, the composer was misguided, since Harris's villain will probably be as memorable as Norman Bates and Michael Meyers. The photography uses a filter to subdue the colors. If that was not downbeat enough, Starling is really the only sympathetic character in the whole story. She seems to go from one man to the next who tries to bed her.
For the sake of completeness at least two nits should be mentioned. Starling is first seen climbing a steep hill in the rigorous FBI training school. When we see her in close-up, she is wearing earrings. For her own safety, at least, you would think they would insist on no jewelry. Also, certain scenes are supposedly seen through an infra-red snooperscope and at least one time the subject is in total darkness. As seen through the scope, even items that do not emit heat are easily seen. In the total darkness scene the subject can not only be seen, but also to be seen is the subject's sharp shadow on the wall.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is as unpleasant and hypnotic as watching a cobra. This is one heavy thriller. I give it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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