Silence of the Lambs

Silence of the Lambs Silence of the Lambs was a work of genius, the list of reasons why this movie works is just short of infinity. I believe I was too young for my initial viewing of this movie. As I watched the movie on the big screen it felt as if it were an all new experience. I found this movie was much more of an immersive movie than most others. It has a detective-like aspect to the movie, very much opposite to Citizen Kane's detective-likeness in the best ways. The clues in this movie were of a much more abstract feel, actively foreshadowing and symbolizing possibilities without ever really providing anything concrete so you could get ahead with a little thinking and reward yourself with some dramatic irony. Even though I was already following along, I found it awfully tempting to hang on every word, especially Lecter’s, and use the movie’s symbolism and foreshadowing to guess and predict different pieces of the final outcome for the three central characters. All three being fates tied like they were, composing predictions based on such loose suggestions was not easy. I will now begin to elaborate on these statements with a few examples of the cogs that make this movie “work.” From the very beginning we are put in the shoes of our protagonist, as we follow her through the building to meet her superior, a character blueprint is already in the work, jumpstarted by a crowded elevator of average sized men with her in the middle, we begin to see how small she is, symbolizing her susceptibility and the inclination for those around her to look at her differently. Throughout the movie there are many examples displaying this, I made note of some but there seems to be around ten situations and around thirty stares. In fact, the only other woman working with law enforcement that I can recall is the darker skinned lady. Who of which, is the only person I can think of whom worked with Sterling and I believe that was the moment in which they figured out