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| Jodie
Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Kasi Lemmons |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Dr.
Hannibal Lecter:
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava
beans and a nice chianti. [hisses]
An
FBI trainee is sent to gather the insights of a captive homicidal psychiatrist
about a serial murder on the loose.
 Close
to ten years after its first release, The Silence of the Lambs
has been imitated innumerable times, but not once has its skillful technique
or its amazing grasp of the material even been approximated. Both its
use of a strong but very human heroine and the already legendary figure
of Hannibal Lecter as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins give this film a
core relationship that is as balanced as it is unnerving. Through its
remarkable use of subjective camera, the audience is placed right in
the shoes of Clarice Starling and goes with her on a journey that is
both frightening and rewarding.
The audience is made to share her fascination for Lecter as well as
the trepidation she feels around him, while the way she is dismissed
as an inferior female trainee from Oklahoma is made clear subtly but
surely in her encounters with other characters in the almost completely
male-dominated world of the FBI and the police. The only elements that
sometimes seem a little out of place are her flashbacks to her childhood,
as they tend to over-explain her character unnecessarily and divert
attention from the more immediate tension of the main narrative. But
this represents only a very minor flaw in what can now safely be called
a masterpiece. |
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The
Silence of the Lambs was available as a Region 1 movie-only version
from Image Entertainment and a Region 0 edition from The Criterion Collection,
but both have gone out of print. MGM/UA has produced a new Special Edition
DVD, scheduled for R1 release on August 21, 2001 and now available as
a 2-disc edition for R2 [see separate
review]. This review is based on the out-of-print Criterion edition.
The widescreen image is letterboxed
at 1.85:1 and is not anamorphic. Even though the transfer isn't enhanced
for 16:9 TVs (this was Criterion's release policy at the time), the
image is still quite good, with very little grain, solid black levels
and hardly any artifacting.
The sound mix is presented in a director-approved Dolby Digital 2.0
mix that does an excellent job with the soundtrack. Many have complained
about the lack of DD 5.1 mix, but in this case it was the director's
express choice and it's an excellent mix so Criterion certainly isn't
to blame.
Out
of the many fine extra features on this excellent Special Edition, the
audio commentary track stands out as one of the best commentary tracks
yet produced. Edited together from audio tracks by Jodie Foster, Anthony
Hopkins, Jonathan Demme, screenwriter Ted Tally and FBI Special Agent
John Douglas, it covers an amazing amount of ground and is riveting
from start to finish. All five speakers are articulate and have interesting
thoughts to add to the film, and it has been edited together seamlessly.
The deleted scenes are a little disappointing as they are mostly longer
cuts of existing scenes in the movie. They are expertly documented with
notes explaining the context and pointing out which scene in the movie
to compare it to. The 'Storyboards' section is more interesting, as
it shows in what detail the shots were worked out beforehand and also
includes a storyboard-to-film comparison.
The two final special features are unique to this release and delve
more deeply into the minds of actual serial killers and the way the
FBI deals with these criminals. The 'FBI Crime Classification Manual'
is a rather exhaustive list of various types of crimes with detailed
descriptions. 'Voices of Death' is much more interesting as it contains
a huge amount of direct quotes and writings from people on Death Row.
Their utterances are divided into several themes that go into issues
like child abuse to what it's like to be forced to look death in the
face. It's a morbid but fascinating read that is sometimes disturbing
material, and it makes a nice counterpoint to the criticism the film
has received for romanticizing serial killers. The
menu screens have very subtle animation as the background color shifts
from one sombre shade to another, accompanied by cues from the score.
As always with Criterion, the menu design expertly reflects the mood of
the film and is extremely well documented.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Silence of the Lambs.
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