The Silence of the Lambs - Pieces Connected = A Whole

Before watching this movie, I found out that Jonathan Demme was the director of this film, once again a film from the director's project that our class had to do.

Never knew that Anthony Hopkins has an acting career before.

The Silence of the Lambs tells the story of Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster, an FBI agent who must deal with Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, in order to solve the case of Buffalo Bill, relating to the heinous murders of several women.

The one thing I especially like about this movie is the use of symbolism to really get the audience on their feet. We have to be investigators in a way as well, almost helping Clarice to get to her ultimate goal: to crack the case and figure out the riddles that Hannibal Lecter is feeding her.

The opening scene features Clarice Starling going through a course in the FBI, giving the idea that she is already being pushed to go through a journey that she must climb over.

Clarice is a sort of character that seems to have a strong feminist presence in the film, clothing separated from every other FBI agent training alongside her in the opening shot. Already off the bat, Clarice appears to be independent and apart from everyone else.

Clarice has to go toe to toe with Hannibal Lecter in a mental game of chess in order to get any sort of information about Buffalo Bill. Even with Hannibal taking stabs at the new sort of bait before him, Clarice responds with a mind willing to combat that of Hannibal Lecter.

A key lesson that this movie teaches is that although pieces of the whole don't seem to make sense when seen as pieces, the conjoining of those pieces causes a realization of what to do. Hannibal Lecter never tells Clarice exactly what she wants to hear. She has to put things together in her mind in order for those subtle clues to make sense, and that is what makes this movie powerful.

Every single moment of this film was motivation for me to watch more.

I give this movie a 5/5.