by Starbuck21

Created on: May 28, 2008

"You don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head," warns FBI agent Jack Crawford to his trainee, Clarice Starling.

Truer words were never spoken. Dr. Hannibal Lecter (brilliantly played by Anthony Hopkins) remains one of the most frightening villains in film. Part sophisticated gentleman, part ruthless cannibal, Lecter charms us even as he makes us squirm in our seats.

"Silence of the Lambs," based on the Thomass Harris novel, swept the 1992 Academy Awards, and for good reason. No fancy special effects. No sweeping soundtrack or beautiful vistas. Instead director Jonathan Demme presents us with a plain story that focuses on a gut-wrenching plot and rich character development.

At the film's opening, Agent Starling, played by Jodi Foster, has the unenviable task of interviewing cannibal psychopath Hannibal Lecter, hoping that he will aid the FBI in capturing the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill. All we initially know of Buffalo Bill is that he kidnaps young, overweight women, starves them for several days, shoots them, and then removes their skin in odd patterns. Lecter has been imprisoned now for several years, buried deep in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. With little to entertain his brilliant mind, he turns to the young agent for amusement, offering to provide her with clues and tidbits of information on the case in exchange for clues about her own life.

Demme fills this movie with fantastic supporting characters: the stolid Jack Crawford and the horrifying Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill (played by Ted Levine) left such an impression on viewers that Levine was unable to find work that didn't involve playing a serial killer for years (in the mid-90s he was in great stuff like "The Mangler"). However, the true strength of "Lambs" is the on-screen time between Clarice and Lecter. We admire Clarice's bravery as she opens up on her tragic past to Dr. Lecter in a desperate attempt to win his assistance. Our time with Clarie and Lecterr totals less than 16 minutes, but remains the most memorable aspect of the movie. Viewers have to ask themselves: who and what is Hannibal Lecter? Is he just a storybook monster? Or is he worse than that? Is he evil or is he just so brilliant that he's beyond the simplistic views of good and evil? If he's so evil, why does he take a shining to Clarice Starling, who's sympathetic to audiences from the first minute?

In a time that is filled with bombastic CGI effects, watching this movie is a like a cool drink of water on a hot day.

I wish they made more movies like this.

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