The Silence of The Lambs 1991

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chicanti." This week I will be reviewing the Silence of the Lambs. It is the story of a young FBI agent and her assignment before she graduates to become a full FBI agent. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. It involves the hunt for a serial killer known only as "Buffalo Bill" who is skinning women across America. Clarice is sent in under false pretences in order to get information out of Lecter about Buffalo Bill. After her first encounter with Lecter, he sends her to a garage where she finds the severed head of a transvestite. When she confronts Lecter about her discovery, he reveals that he was the first victim of Buffolo Bill "a fledgling killer's first attempt at transformation". With this revelation they strike an uneasy alliance, he will give her information about the killer only if she will give him personal information about her own troubled life. The body of the first victim is found on a river bank. When the post mortem is being performed on her it is discovered that two large diamond shape pieces of skin have been taken from her back. They also discover a moth cocoon stuck in her throat.

Soon Buffalo Bill is on the hunt for his "next special lady". He kidnaps the daughter of a senator. The FBI soon kick into over drive in order to find the missing girl. Clarice offers to move Lecter to a minimum security wing if he gives her Bill's identity before Lecter sees through this game. He is taken to Memphis where he taunts the senator about her daughter and gives a false description of Bill to the police. After one last final conversation with Clarice he gives her everything she needs to catch Buffalo bill before Lecter makes his violent escape from prison. From the information Clarice figures out that Bill knew this first victim as he began to covet what he sees everyday. With this new revelation she travels to the victims house and soon finds herself in the house of Buffalo Bill himself. She discovers that he is making a suit out of women's skin and is kidnapping bigger women and starving in order to get their skin. She finds the senators daughter imprisoned in an abandoned well. She finds herself trapped in darkness with Bill creeping up on her. She hears him load his gun and she fires five shots at, thus ending his reign of terror.

This is no doubt one of the best films ever made. It won five Oscars, one for Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, one for writing, one for best director and one for best picture. It created one of the best screen villains. It features excellent performances from everybody in the film. It is suspenseful and engaging. The scenes between Lecter and Starling are excellent. I give this film 10/10. Next week I will be reviewing Galaxy Quest.