Lechter as a child. And a young man. 'Nuff said.

Screenplay by Thomas Harris
Directed by Peter Webber

---CAST
Gaspard Ulliel Hannibal Lechter
Gong Li Lady Murasaki
Helena Lia Tachovska Mischa
Rhys Ifans Grutas
Richard Brake Dortlich
Brian Caspe as the Inspector

I saw this film last Wednesday. It was really good. For the first time ever, author Thomas Harris is not only writing the novel, but wrote the screenplay as well.

It shows a young Hannibal Lechter in, beginning with his childhood in Lithuania, as he escapes unbelievable atrocities in World War II, to his taking refuge in France. It is here that we see how this gifted and intelligent young man loses his innocence and begins his journey on the path to becoming one of cinema’s most famous icons of evil.

Young actor Gaspard Ulliel excels as the young Hannibal. While he doesn't really resemble Anthony Hopkins (he has dark, rather than blue eyes), he definitely embodies the psyche of the character. Even the two young actors that play Lechter and his sibling as young children received raves.

What's interesting about this film is that contrary to previous films, he's essentially the protagonist, as he hunts down the people who made him the way he was, so we are essentially rooting for him. We find out not only why he became a monster, but why he turned to cannibalism. It's interesting to see him square off with the inspector who suspects him of crimes, though the Inspector doesn’t really come off as his equal. The beautiful Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) comes off as sympathetic, and provides a human anchor for the audience, as we mourn the great man that Hannibal might’ve been.

Director Peter Webber (Girl with a Pearl Earring) acquits himself well here, though the movie will inevitably be compared to Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon by those who might find it wanting. I think that the movie should instead by judged by its own merits, as the source of answers to a long-asked questions about the origins of one of the most famous movie villains ever, and on that basis, it succeeds.

See it when it comes out in February!