While this movie was not my first choice, I do not regret watching it one bit. The Silence of the Lambs is a movie based around a student of the FBI training academy, Clarice Starling. One of her superiors, Jack Crawford, sends her to interview a psychopath psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Hannibal Lector who has been serving time in Baltimore for eight years at this point. It is believed that this man condemned for cannibalistic murders, can help find a new killer on the prowl- Buffalo Bill.

                     This movie was so well done to the point where as an audience member, I can only imagine what it was like to film on set with an actor like Anthony Hopkins. He is phenomenal, to the point where some of the other actors looked lackluster in comparison. In his role as Dr. Hannibal Lector, he left even Jodie Foster shaking from his eerie, uninterrupted stares. To harness that energy, the camera angles got extremely close to not only him but every actor. I especially noticed this toward the beginning where Jack and Clarice were on the phone and the shot was cut off just above the chin, and just below the hairline. Many of the shots also had movement within them and I could probably count on one hand the ones that were entirely still. Intricate pans and zooms revealed the true nature of each scene. One of my favorite parts of this movie was the transitions between scenes. When Clarice would have flashbacks of her father it took me a second to notice the difference!

              The shocking unveil through similar seamless transitions at the end of the movie was incredible and was not a let down whatsoever. The lighting was fairly dark throughout the movie, especially in the scenes of Hannibal in his cell, lighting him in such a way that shadows were cast adding to the effect. The only scenes that were bright were the ones shot outside and seemed to just be natural light. Many of the camera shots were also very symmetrical, although I did notice a couple of times with the rule of thirds. There wasn’t much music in the movie that I could tell, aside from the ambient droning while some transitions took place. On occasion, at suspenseful points in the movie, there was some form of music playing, for example when Clarice opens the jewelry box and the soft tinkling begins as the ballerina dancer twirls in circles.

                    I highly recommend this movie to anyone that knows how to appreciate a piece like this. I mean everyone can watch it but only a few will truly dive in and watch each small detail unfold. Both Anthony Hopkins and his character Dr. Hannibal Lector are brilliant and whoever cast him in such a role shall also be deemed as so. The way he can just simply use his eyes to tell the story, like when he is strapped to the handcart and seems to be looking around in space and then zones in on the doctor the second it has become clear his pen is missing. The story was similarly written very well and wouldn’t be this good of a movie without the work of Thomas Harris. (Also thought I would mention, just for good measure, that it was funny seeing Chris Isaak in a role as a policeman)

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