Unbelievable!

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2012)

"The Silence of the Lambs" is one of the greatest cinematic achievements of cinema's history. Every single element contributes to create a disturbing and unique atmosphere, and I use very carefully the word 'unique'. I highly doubt anyone was reminded of a villain with the same caliber as Dr. Hannibal -with the chilling rhyming nickname- Lecter, masterfully personified by Anthony Hopkins. I doubt anyone remembers a similar movie where a young, vulnerable and non-Ellen-Ripley looking girl doesn't play the victim, nor the hero's love interest, but the actual heroine. Clarice Starling, as a FBI trainee is played by Jodie Foster, in a performance subtly combining feminine vulnerability and heroic tenacity. And no one would have expected the film to have a binary structure with a classic serial-killer's investigation in one hand, and a subplot involving one of the greatest movie villains of all-time and his interaction with the heroine, on the other.
The script is tightly constructed, patiently leading us to assemble each piece of the puzzle until the series of interactions between Clarice and Hannibal approaches a disturbing truth. The relationship between the two leads is even more fascinating because it deepens their personalities and allows us to get more and more in their background : the wounds in Clarice's past, the mystery around Hannibal Lecter, and the roots of evil that inspired the serial killers' acts. And this is where the freshness of the film relies on : its capability to put everything into perspective and invite our perceptions to go beyond the simple 'good vs. evil' dichotomy. The villain are no sharks, no monsters, no possessing demons, they are everyday men, like some Norman Bates with an extra level of savagery and pervert creativity and we try to understand to better fight them.