The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs has an ultra-rare superpower to unreservedly suck anyone watching it right into the film! It's one of those masterpieces to employ complete visual storytelling, filmmaking grammar and screenwriting rules in the A to Z creation process.

From the beginning workout sequence accompanied by title credits and Howard Shore's classic score, we're introduced to our protagonist Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). A top-scoring FBI trainee existing in the world of men, she confidently believed she had all it takes to be in this profession. Each and every scene established her traits, character, characteristics plus the change arc she's treading through.

The plot shifted into its second gear when a major character enters her life - Hannibal Lecter, played by the legendary Anthony Hopkins! An intelligent psychiatrist with heightened senses! Despite being cautioned about him, she's intrigued of this man and started getting personal. How she broke all the rules and collaborated with the psychopath to nab a serial killer on the loose told the story of The Silence of the Lambs.

Ted Tally's script is a textbook for screenwriting. First and foremost, for those who'd love to know how to layout expositions organically, this screenplay is a must-read! Just look at how he has transferred herds of necessary information to the audiences through striking conversations without us realizing about it one bit! Most notable example for this would be the quid pro quo style exchange of knowledge between Lecter and Starling! Albeit everything exposition, with smart and sharp dialogues, the interaction was like a thrilling ping pong match! The way Hannibal dissected Starling's past and dug the details out of that hole was simply astounding! Even without any of these, the makers were so lucky to have an imposing presence like Anthony Hopkins with them! With his hypnotic narration, all exposition automatically became interesting!

Speaking of Anthony Hopkins, it's time to discuss the fantastic performances this movie has! The man's appearance itself was so damn intimidating! His dialogue delivery to everything else he did here, nothing fell short of magnificence at the highest order! This persona in The Silence of the Lambs will go down in history as one of the best guardian / mentor characters ever put to film! Jodie Foster did a bang up job as Clarice Starling! Her pure West Virginia accent was addictive to listen to! You'll have to witness for yourself the way she displayed a mixture of fear and bravery in Buffalo Bill's house! Oh yes, Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill was a unique lawbreaker who kept the scripts on its toes.

Director Jonathan Demme has done such a great job building the hype up for the character of Hannibal Lecter! From titbits to warnings to actual footsteps approaching the glass cell, the payoff matched once we've met the man! A good filmmaker knows what to show, what to only suggest and what to not at all be picturized. The fact that Jonathan chose not to reveal the gruesome photograph or carcass but instead reflect the facial reactions to it alone left our imaginations to run wild! It’s always more effective that way because everyone's imaginations don't tally with each other. What may seem terrifying for one could turn out to be tame for another. Therefore, this directorial technique allows our own imagination and what we fear to see the most to satisfy our curiosity.

Clarice Starling was soft on the inside. The occupation required her to be emotionally and mentally tougher. And that's exactly what her character arc was, which officially transformed this person into an FBI agent. We see her applying everything she has learnt physically, mentally and emotionally onto the nail-biting climax! Clarice walking from wall to wall in a pitch black dungeon with Buffalo Bill tailing her on a night vision glass was too gripping of a sequence for our regular hearts to handle! Hannibal picking lock on handcuff during second dinner, beating a policeman to death with a baton, decorticating his guts out and hanging it mid-air before escaping from Tennessee courthouse using the a ripped face skin was an equally electrifying episode!

Miggs (Stuart Rudin) flicking semen onto Clarice, moth cocoon clue and the entire police procedurals were enthralling proceedings. In such a clear screenplay, once the US senator's daughter has been kidnapped, a deadline was set and the race commenced. Each character's desire was clear. House bust scene was a good diversion. And the set-up, development plus buildup for Dr Chilton's (Anthony Heald) and Hannibal's eventual offscreen face-off was gold! One could only imagine what would happen to Hannibal's worst enemy that was.

Tak Fujimoto's cinematography was the work of a maestro! Those brilliant closeups! It's meant to haunt you! It makes you squirm in your seats unsettled! All in all, it scares the soul out of you! Scene transitions using words and images were seamless. There were a couple of instances where the cut was a little abrupt, but this is nit-picking.