Silence of the Lambs, based on the book by Thomas Harris - 9.6 out of 10

Silence of the Lambs, based on the book by Thomas Harris

9.6 out of 10

To make it clear, though it sounds redundant, this is about the film, based on the novel, a somewhat superfluous repetition, but since there have been some comments related to similar circumstances…there it is, no more confusion

We could hardly find a motion picture that is more revered, acclaimed than The Silence of the Lambs, a classic that has brought both joy to the audiences – it is listed at 23 on the list of Top Rated Movies, that means features that the public loves most – and appreciation form the critics that have included this on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list - https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/20 - and inserted it in many other prestigious compilations

This is the movie that has won five Oscars, including for Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role, Best Writing and Best Director, which mean all the most important Academy Awards that one feature can take, consolidating its position among the quintessential works of art and thus provoking this foolish cinephile to try and take some shots at it, after conforming that even he is aware of the value of this magic story, was exuberant upon seeing it a couple of times, but was perhaps somewhat less overwhelmed, a few days ago, when one of the film channels had streamed it again…

Indeed, there is no heavy criticism that such an unimportant viewer could bring to the table, except that Clarice Starling aka the stupefying Jodie Foster – an amazing debutante in the other classic, Taxi Driver – a character that is now part of the History of Cinema -  with Doctor Hannibal Lecter aka the equally outstanding Anthony Hopkins – seems to be inappropriately sent to meet the Ultimate Monster in order to try and poke him find details that may be useful in an ongoing investigation and furthermore, she is more than successful, while the experienced, valuable, well trained FBI agents look in the wrong place, she may just find what is needed…

This might seem to go against the conclusions of well, yet another classic, only from Psychology this time, Outliers, by the genius Malcolm Gladwell – though some brilliant mind has said that the notion of genius must not be used all the time, and there are only very few in history, Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci and not many more – in which we learn about the importance of working hard, the idea that once you get 10,000 hours of practice or study over ten years, which means about three hours daily, at the end of this period you can be on top of the world, other conditions applying…as in modern advertising of pills

The examples offered in Outliers are astounding, for the mesmerizing author takes the examples of Mozart – yes, he has started as a child, but the compositions of the boy may have actually been the work of Leopold Mozart, his father, and anyway, the works they play today have been written when Amadeus was over twenty, conforming the theory – Bill Gates, the Beatles, Steve Jobs, players in the NHL and some Olympic teams, only to look at the fantastic Asian culture, with its emphasis on very, very hard work – it looks like they say if there is a problem, more work will solve it – an approach that explains in large part their phenomenal success in Mathematical, Physics and other hard subjects at the Olympics and elsewhere

Silence of the Lambs is interesting in that we have the Absolute Villain, Hannibal Lecter, as a serial killer and cannibal, but ‘endowed’ with a very high IQ – in that, he proves again the conclusion reached by modern psychology that Emotional Intelligence is way more important than traditional IQ, since this and other individuals like him use a Machiavellic mind towards the most vile, nefarious purposes…he appears to be a psychopath, which means that he has no feelings, though he can anticipate and observe the emotions of others with unbelievable accuracy and toys with the young, innocent Clarice Starling.

For the scenario of the motion picture, this works magnificently, for we can find no other instance – of it is absolutely rare – when the Pure Evil and Extreme Ingenuity are facing each other – and as for the previous ‘criticism’, it is admittedly almost completely destroyed by the fact that the plot cleverly insists on the lack of experience of the woman and it is also evident for the under signed that once experienced hands have not found the way out of the labyrinth, someone with a fresh look, an outsider could see where the others have missed the details…

Silence of the Lambs is therefore one of the best films we can see, even if during this period of pandemonium, the Corona virus killing people, closing down countries and creating mayhem in most of the world – some say that all will be affected, as in all lands, but we just follow a couple of weeks behind the likes of Italy…

Well, we will get over this, Insha’Allah and if not…so long then