Have the lambs stopped screaming?

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2004)

A Must-see! And yet this is a movie, about which I read, talked with, listened from people for about a decade before I actually watched it. Actually, I read so much about this movie, searched so many different websites that I was a bit afraid that the movie won't be able to live up to the mental picture I've had of it. And yet, when finally I watched it, I was overwhelmed.
Now, don't ask me who did the maximum justice to his/her role in the movie: Dr. Lecter, Clarice or Buffalo Bill, simply for the reason that I cannot decide. Many would perhaps find my view that Bill was as brilliant as Dr. Lecter or Clarice odd; but I believe that the film would not have been equally compelling without the brilliant portrayal of his role.
It's redundant to talk about the brilliance of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. While watching the movie, one does not see Hopkins playing a role; what one sees all along is a psychopath, and yet brilliant, forensic psychiatrist. Jodie Foster was equally brilliant , one who can make a monster such as Dr. Lecter cooperate and give her clues that would finally lead her to the culprit. And it's impossible to ignore the invisible bond developing between her and Lecter during the process: her indignation at knowing that she was used to play a game of false promises (The famous scene involving, "You've no more vacations to sell." follows this sequence), and Hannibal's helping her in spite of the way he was deceived shed a little light on their humane side. Both of them know the wall that separates them, the circumstances that they live under, and yet none of them resists the development of the warmth between them. In a sense, they share a concern for each other.
A couple of weak points of the movie in my opinion: The picking up of the pen by Hannibal (while being totally tied) in presence of Dr. Chilton, and his masquerading as an injured police officer, and then removing a mask from his face in the hospital room were unrealistic. I'm yet to read the book, and hence cannot comment if it was dramatic necessity or the director's desire to stick to the words in the book, that prompted those scenes: either way, (in my opinion) it would have been better not to have this mask sequence in this brilliant movie.
People who have watched and enjoyed this movie would, I'm sure, equally enjoy Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal in the movie, Red Dragon, as well.