Weekend Buff

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

“You still wake up sometimes, don’t you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs.”

One of the creepiest lines in filmdom in my opinion. Silence of the Lambs was a surprise box office hit in 1991 when it was released and became a classic movie.

The movie came to mind with the recent great work by the FBI in the January 6^th bombing case. The FBI rededicated itself to that case and closed it with a collar. It harkens back to a time when the FBI was a little less involved in politics and a little more involved in making arrests. Thankfully, the FBI is at least back in the criminal investigation game under Kash Patel, with arrests way up and interfering with elections way down.

When Silence of the Lambs was released, the FBI had reached a new level of respect. The shady dealings revealed by the Church Committee were in the past, J Edgar Hoover was long dead, and the FBI was solving cases like the Lockerbie bombing, armed bank robberies, and collaring corrupt judges in Chicago.

The Silence of the Lambs showed the FBI as the crime fighting agency that had made them famous. Hunting down serial killers with the help of top-notch forensics, superior crime scene processing, and their Behavioral Analysis Unit profiling.

Special Agent in Training Clarice Starling is chosen to interact with incarcerated psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter to solicit his insights into a current serial killer, Buffalo Bill. The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit felt that an intelligent and vulnerable female agent would the best choice to elicit information from Lecter. They pulled Clarice Starling right from their academy in Quantico to meet with the elusive, enigmatic eater.

Starling reluctantly opens up to Lecter. Her conversations with Lecter assist her with the Buffalo Bill case and her personal struggles. It is a chilling irony that the homicidal Lecter is both terrifying and able to unlock and quell Starlings deepest fears.

This psychological gambit is the premise for this deeply disturbing thriller. Director Jonathan Demme takes the Thomas Harris novel to the big screen and captures all the terror of the book.

Demme is assisted by a world class cast who give some of their greatest performances. Sir Anthony Hopkins creates one of the most frightening cinematic characters in Hannibal Lecter. Jodie Foster is excellent in her adult role, and her best since Taxi Driver. Scott Glenn and Frank Levine are good in supporting roles, but the interaction between Foster and Hopkins is disturbing, mesmerizing and cinematic genius that makes this one of the greatest films of all time.

Silence of the Lambs cleaned up at the Academy Awards. It captured the award for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. A clean sweep of major categories.

The movie is 2 hours of psychological terror. It is not an action film, but the suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat – and sleepless at night. You can catch Silence of the Lambs for free on the library app, Hoopla (which is a great way to access books and movies), or rent it for the usual $4 on streaming services. This is a movie that you can watch multiple times and always catch something new. Consume it this weekend with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!