The silent lamb

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2020)

Starling is not a simple woman, only ignorant people can be really simple. Starling's character is complex, she is rational, smart and ambitious, which is said by Hannibal herself, and she also knows how to deal with interpersonal relationships quite tactfully. These traits are one of the reasons why Hannibal likes her. Hannibal said he hates rude people, and "etiquette" and "restraint" are precisely the suppression and domestication of human anti-animal instincts. Most simple people follow their own nature and act bluntly without thinking, and Starling is definitely not one of those people. On the contrary, she seems to be a little too self-restrained, causing this cold beauty to constantly reveal her fragile fragility under her strong appearance, adding a bit of lovable beauty to her. but in addition, you can strongly feel a cold heart and an unshakable belief that you are in a weak position. Hannibal has always been a man with excellent mental control and seems to have transcended all the limitations of human inferiority. He advocates reason, intelligence, and appreciates classical literature and music (remember the Gothenburg variation in the background when he was in a cage, Bach's music is recognized as the most rational). He must have loved the grandeur of classical tragedies more than the pleasures of earthly life. So there is no doubt that Starling is typical of his favorite image: rational, strong, neat, self-respecting, sensitive, and because of the shadow of childhood or her nature, she has a strong melancholy temperament and the lonely beauty of isolating the crowd. a little neurotic can also please a psychiatrist. So Hannibal should be attracted to her at first sight.
In the end, however, it was the story of the screaming Lamb that eventually prompted Hannibal to fall in love with Starling, which was so idealized and symbolized that it had a certain allegorical color. That kind of compassionate feelings, the great love for human suffering, make Starling exude a kind of holy martyrdom, but also make Hannibal explore her story again and again and be deeply shocked. Hannibal has always been sure of analyzing people's minds, and Starling is an exception. He had speculated that she might have been sexually abused by relatives or wanted to escape from a poor and barren childhood, no matter which kind of trauma was limited to her personal misfortune. It is common for people to hurt themselves because of bad luck, even if it is reasonable and reasonable, because it still cannot escape the scope of personal grief, and the resulting tragedy is marked by a particular experience. And the real profound tragedy should be a more universal, not based on this appearance, based on the origin of life shudder. It needs to put aside the abusive self-catharsis and resonate with it with a rational and simple soul. So Starling's story was a big surprise to Hannibal. She saw other creatures suffering, grieving for them, and giving up everything to save them, a state that few people could achieve. It is an exaggeration to say that there is an awareness of Christ carrying the cross. So Hannibal would give an infinitely gentle sigh, "Thank you, Starling." I think the second half of what he didn't say should be "Thank you, Starling, you have given me a little bit of confidence in human beings." So "the world is more interesting because of you". The only physical contact between the two men in the film was a touch of the index finger, reminiscent of Michelangelo's famous mural Genesis, and God's finger turned Adam into a spiritual connection between God and man. this passage in the film may suggest a subtle shift in the relationship between Hannibal and Starling. The dialogue between the two of them across the cage is my favorite part of the play. The exquisite performance and deep music are very touching. There was a lot of symbolic dialogue, and Starling said that at first she wanted to release the lambs, but they "didn't know how to run away, they just stood there confused and didn't want to go." How similar these lambs are to the dull world. Even if they are given physical freedom, they are still prisoners of their own souls. They all say that the strong save themselves and the saints pass from one person to another, but most mediocre people do not know how to escape from the tragedy of life. They are even so sad that they do not realize that they are in a tragedy. They only keep wandering outside the heavenly gate with a fragile heart and a wandering soul, constantly indulging in pain. Keep screaming in my heart. And all this cruelty is masked by a colder silence between heaven and earth. As sung in "The Sound Of Silence", when silence becomes a sound, making people think that everything is normal, but tearing apart this layer of appearance, is it not the execution ground of hell burning in the scorching sun in front of us? The pain and weight of life will unbiased fall on everyone's head, as Starling said, "they are too heavy." Did Starling really hear the "scream" of the lamb when she was a child? I think the answer is probably no (for movies only). It's winter night, everyone is sleeping, and the butchers shouldn't have started yet. How could the humming of a few weak lambs be big enough to wake up Starling in the room? Why can't other people just hear this sound? So this "scream" is probably an abstract intention, a voice that exists only in Starling's heart, and echoes again and again like a nightmare as an adult. This is the symbolism used in the film. The title of the film tells us that "the Lamb is always the most silent animal", but only in Stelline's eyes they keep asking for help and struggling because of suffering. In the final analysis, it is because she has a sensitive insight into the world. Many times as sensitive as ordinary people and several times as compassionate as ordinary people, Starling is not destined to be a happy person. Hannibal's sketch shows her dressed in white with a lamb in her arms, and her eyes seem gentle but exude a desolate and resolute strength, which bears a resemblance to the Virgin Mary. In fact, if we talk about the topics of "the strong" and "the weak", is it true that each of us is not a "weak" in front of nature and fate? And the world itself may be the greedy eyes that Hannibal said. People come to the world with the original sin called desire, unconsciously fighting against each other, forming an invisible and huge net, each person is not only the giver of evil, but also the victim of evil; both greedy peeping and frightened escape; both a sinner and a victim, there is no escape, no escape. Like poor bad boy Bill, like the man who looked at Starling at the airport, like those contemptuous male policemen, like you and me. Perhaps, in the eyes of Hannibal, human beings are pathetic, struggling for their own interests, but can not escape the butcher's knife of fate, and will eventually be mercilessly swallowed up by life, just like stupid and frightened lambs waiting to be slaughtered, ignorance, numbness, pitiful and pathetic. It can be said that Hannibal has been looking down on human beings with a cold reason, just like a ruthless god, who does not know what benevolence is, regards all things as a ruminant dog, and cannot change human tragedies, so he is indifferent. Until he met Starling, a shepherd girl who, sensitive by nature and aware of human tragedies, was crying to save even one lamb, a thin, frail girl who tried to carry all the sufferings of the world on her shoulders. The two people are both similar and completely opposite. So Hannibal's love for Starling is not only a sympathy for each other, but also a guardian of the beautiful soul of dissidents. "Brave Clarice, if one day your lamb stops screaming, will you come and tell me?" If this world can really become the kingdom of heaven one day, even the ruthless gods will be a little moved, right?