So this was the first movie we watched with a bit of a broader audience – our two best friends, Jen and Adam. We all decided we didn’t want war or tear jerkers but psychopathic serial killers would be fine!
This is one of only 3 movies to win the ‘grand slam’ top 5 Oscars – we’ve already watched the first grand slam winner, “It Happened One Night” and I have to say expectations were high. Not least because this is such a well-known film (“I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti”!) and because to date it is the only horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar. So it must have been pretty good, right? Right?!
I’m no good with the misdirection - it was great! So entertaining! Anthony Hopkins is the living embodiment of gleeful evil and Jodie Foster’s portrayal of the floundering Starling with the first assignment from hell is completely compelling. Jen and Adam’s chief complaints were about the 'emotional response' and ‘did it make you think’categories but for me, way back in 1991 it started a love affair with all things true crime and may have lead (in some strange and small way) to my chosen profession. I love a psychological thriller that’s true to the psychology of it’s characters, as I told Clarice to wait for morning to search “Yourself Storage” Adam rightly pointed out, she wouldn’t do that – she’s a boots and all kind of girl!
Jen didn’t care much for the lambs, which probably contributed to her lower score (given that the whole ‘screaming lamb’ thing is kind of important to Starling), but we all agreed it deserved to win against it’s competitors that year (“Beauty and the Beast”, “Prince of Tides”, “Bugsy” and “JFK”). Of course anything that doesn’t require catheterisation to get through beats “JFK”.
We thoroughly relished the pure entertainment value of such great actors really getting to sink their teeth into such extreme characters and I loved the exposure it provided to criminologists and forensic specialists. Anything that increases understanding of the incomprehensible aspects of human nature scores well in my view! Like “The Hurt Locker” it makes you ask yourself what these people give up to keep us safe from the horrors in this world.
One of my favourite (and horribly disturbing) anecdotes comes from John Douglas, the FBI profiler who was the inspiration (and consultant) for the Jack Crawford character. He had returned home from a devastating body recovery scene involving multiple child victims to find his wife cooking dinner. As she chopped the carrots she managed to take off a portion of her finger. Crying in pain and surprise and trying to bandage her bleeding hand she called for help. Dispassionately her husband surveyed the scene and responded, “It’s not that bad, what’s the fuss?”
Needless to say that his marriage did not survive, but who knows how many people did survive because of his sacrifices? I think that’s a story worth telling and “The Silence of the Lambs” does make you consider those kinds of stories. “You don’t want Hannibal Lector in your head.” But sometimes that’s the only way to catch them!
Overall we scored it 85% (Jen), 87% (Adam), 91% (D) and 95% (Mat), putting the delectable Hannibal Lector and ‘good bag, cheap shoes’ Clarice Starling well ahead in the Best of the Best Picture stakes!
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