by Chris Marshall:
I remember liking The
Silence of the Lambs well enough the first time I saw it, and I’ve watched
various parts of it a few times since then. But I’ve never really considered it
a classic, at least not in the same sense that many others do. I never bothered
with the prequels or sequels (it seems like there are so many) because I just
never had any real interest in them.
Upon revisiting it for The Oscar Project, I was reminded of just
how well crafted a film it is. It very well might have been the “fastest” movie
so far, by which I mean it felt much shorter than its two hour running time.
Everything flows together so smoothly and swiftly that you never have to wait
for a new development in the plot.
Still, I’m not completely sold on it being an all-time
classic, despite its dominance at the Oscars. The Silence of the Lambs became the third film, after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest[1],
to win all five major Academy Awards: picture, actor, actress, director, and
screenplay. I don’t think it’s quite in the same class as those two films,
however. Maybe I’ve gotten so used to Oscar winners being about “important”
things that I’ve forgotten how to enjoy films that are simply well-made and fun
to watch.
This film is often credited as being the first (and only)
horror movie to win Best Picture, but I take issue with that categorization.
There are certainly plenty of horrific moments during the movie, but I think it
falls more into the suspense/thriller genres than to horror. I have neither the
time nor the energy to fully explicate my idea of what constitutes a horror
movie, so suffice it to say that it seems like the wrong way to describe The Silence of the Lambs.
Although it’s important, at least for symbolic reasons, I
had forgotten what the title even referred to. It’s just such a familiar movie
to me at this point that I don’t even think about the words anymore. I had also
forgotten why the butterfly/moth thing is on the movie poster, but that was
cleared up for pretty quickly. I was probably in high school the last time I
watched it, so maybe it’s justifiable to have forgotten.
 |
| I have a mask like this. |
I can’t figure out why these important things had completely
left my brain, yet so many moments in the movie I remembered perfectly. This
lack of staying power is one of the reasons I haven’t elevated it to a higher
plane of Oscar winners. I know this is unfair—I’m sure I’ll have forgotten
plenty about Cavalcade in the next 10
years—but it’s just how my head works sometimes.
I don’t want to take anything away from the Oscar wins,
though. As fantastic as fellow nominee Beauty
and the Beast was, it still wasn’t quite as good as The Silence of the Lambs, and it was the only real competition.
Both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins created completely iconic, unforgettable
characters. People today talk about Hannibal Lecter, and it was his popularity
alone that was the true impetus for the other movies in the series. There was
just something so compelling about him.
I have a question about the film’s treatment of Lecter at
the end, though. A little over an hour into the movie, he escapes and kills
several people on the way out. Then he’s not mentioned again until the
post-script, when he calls up Clarice and says his famous “having an old friend
for dinner” line. But for about 30 minutes, we’re asked to completely forget about
him. After Buffalo Bill was caught, they had a big promotion party in Clarice’s
honor, and they completely failed to acknowledge that Lecter was still a free
man. I mean, what did they accomplish? They killed one killer, only to let
another guy who’s way more dangerous go free. That hardly seems like a reason
for celebration.
Of course, maybe I’m nitpicking. Clarice deserves her moment
in the sun, and who am I to take that away from her? There’s no need to ruin
things with minor facts like Hannibal Lecter being on the loose and threatening
to kill a high-profile psychologist, along with countless others. He likes
Clarice, so she doesn’t even have anything worry about. I think there’s a
lesson here. I’m just not sure what is. Maybe that it’s in your best interests
to make friends with psychopathic serial killers?
Yeah, that’s gotta be it.
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