a compelling portrait of human evil

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2006)

Wow. Just wow. The most deeply frightening movie I have ever seen. The plot revolves around Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, who, to track down serial killer "Buffalo Bill" (who kidnaps and skins women) must talk to another captured killer and psychopath, Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter. Her relationship with Hannibal evolves into something slightly sado-masochistic, and becomes a twisted version of the father-daughter dynamic - Clarice has issues with her father, and with guilt. Deep consideration of what constitutes "higher" and "lower" forms of being in a human, what exactly is psychopathic and what exactly is evil, and all forms of destructive being are taken into account, symbolized by the death's-head moth. The character Hannibal is extremely intriguing and multi-dimensional, especially compared with Buffalo Bill...while the latter knows that what he's doing can get him in trouble, he still doesn't perceive himself as psychopathic, but Hannibal does. He continues to do what he's doing when possible, to acknowledge it, to even use it to his advantage with the weapon of fear, and all the while functioning on a higher, very intellectual and thoughtful level. His morbid curiosity in Clarice's past runs parallel to the desire to consume another human being. By the way, did you know that there is a species of moth that lives on nothing but tears?