"Story is a metaphor for life." This is Robert McKee's answer to the relationship between life and art in "Story: Material, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screen Play". A movie is just a story after image processing. No matter whether this kind of story is absurd or bizarre, or it is clearly written in the title that "this film is adapted from a true story", we should regard it as a story, and Not a pipe dream or a news story.
Since it is a story, there will be deep meanings of one kind or another hidden beneath the surface of the narrative. "The material of the story is the gulf, the gulf that splits between what one expects to happen and what actually happens when one takes action; the gulf between expectation and consequence, between probability and necessity. To construct a scenarios, we should keep prying open these cracks in reality.”
"The Silence of the Lambs" is such a film. Through the dramatic conflict setting with great tension and the superb performances of the actors, we see one crack after another slowly opening in the land of peaceful life.
At the beginning of the film, we see Clarice Starling, a female college student studying in the police academy, carrying out her daily physical training, and her life is in a kind of balance at this time. If all goes well, she will graduate from the police academy with high marks and then enter the FBI. Due to her rigorous and professional training, she will have many opportunities in the police station and be involved in solving many cases. Finally, after a long career, she will be honorably discharged and even inscribed on the FBI's Hall of Fame.
But that balance was upset by a phone call the morning we saw her. She was asked to carry out a task, one that thrilled and terrified her. Such an opportunity is rare for a student who has not yet graduated, but if she agrees, what awaits her will be a psychiatrist in prison: Hannibal.
The psychiatrist is also a murderous maniac, and the film paved the way for Hannibal's appearance in just one sentence. "His pulse never exceeded 85, even when he was chewing her tongue." One of the most famous murderers in film and television, Hannibal Lecott's image was ready to appear, just waiting for a A talented actor appeared.
That actor is Anthony Hopkins. He won the 64th Academy Award for Best Actor for his 16-minute performance in Silence of the Lambs alone. He seems so calm, always keeping his manners, and making viewers almost can't believe he's a killer at first. And when he takes off the handcuffs, grabs the policeman by the head and gnaws at his face, we can hardly believe this is the same Dr.
From the plot point of view, this film mainly tells the story of the police chasing a serial killer named "Wild Buffalo Bill". The conflicts and contradictions were also resolved when Starling shot and killed "Wild Buffalo Bill". . In fact, the spiritual core of this film is not here, nor is the crime incident that has always been recalled by critics and audiences over and over again.
"Those complex protagonists endure intense inner struggles as more than one desire constitutes a direct conflict within them. Whatever the character consciously thinks he needs, the audience will feel or realize that, deep down in his heart, he has A completely opposite unconscious desire."
What really makes people reminisce is the few scenes where Clarice Starling and Hannibal go head-to-head. They gradually showed their inner desires on the screen in the dialogue with each other, which constituted a strong new drama tension and countless value connotations worth exploring.
We can think of Clarice as a microcosm of the entire human being, and Hannibal as a being that stands above the human world. The former struggles in the world, but he can't get rid of the shadow of childhood and can't cover up some kind of temperament brought from his hometown. She wanted to rescue the silent lambs waiting to be slaughtered in the world, but found that they were completely indifferent. And when she tried her best to pick up a sheep beside her, but couldn't walk a few steps at all, she finally realized her weakness. Life may be such a tragedy, no matter how hard you try, you can't get rid of what you don't want, and you can't get what you're looking for.
The latter is not. He advocates reason and intelligence, loves classical art and can continuously absorb nutrients from it; he can control his own emotions and the thoughts of others; he is always polite, calm and even cold. The world's passions and desires and fame and wealth are not attractive to him. He let Miggs, who spoke foul language to Starling, commit suicide. The first thing he did after he got out of prison was to kill the man who only had the desire to become famous and to climb up. Dean. The problems faced by the Starlings mentioned above did not bother him at all. "Give me a person who is not enslaved by feelings, and I would like to cherish it in my heart, in the depths of my soul." We can call such a person a strong person in life. He does not belong to the earthly ground.
Yet there can be no place for him in the kingdom of heaven. Because just like the strong shark in the ocean, once he smells the smell of blood, he will undoubtedly expose his original nature. The nature cannot be hidden, bad habits and character can be changed or covered over time, but the nature cannot be removed, it will only attack you again and again inadvertently, making your cultivation and human civilization disappear.
The interpretation of this film basically regards Hannibal as an image of a destroyer or a rebel who sees through all human reality and realizes the dark nature of all societies. However, the irony is that this "Destroyer" himself has seen through the essence of society. He is indifferent to this ugly and dark world and the world and is almost ruthless, but he cannot be indifferent to his own nature and desires. Isn't he an experiment and a victim of human nature in this world? Because the kingdom of heaven has no place for him, and the human world can only leave him a prison cell.
Calling heroes is a natural human tendency, and the more you live in dark and chaotic times, the more obvious this tendency is. Even if there is a bloodthirsty maniac in front of us, we are willing to put him in a high position, expecting him to bring some warnings to this broken society, like some kind in distant history. Like the prophets who have appeared.
But this kind of anticipation can easily be transformed into a kind of laziness, just like the audience watching a superhero movie and eating popcorn. In the end, human beings may bury the responsibility of saving the world forever in their longing, so that our descendants will not even know Strive for what. I think, however, that the problems and dilemmas facing human beings can only be solved by their own efforts, just like Clarice Starling, moving forward through repeated failures and dilemmas.
This may be a new revelation that the film can bring to us when it was released 30 years ago.
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