Hannibal Rising
2007′s Hannibal Rising works as a prequel to Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. The film is an adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name and is the fifth film to feature the character of Hannibal Lecter. The screenplay was penned by Harris as well, as he had an intimate knowledge of the material and could work within the mind of the character he created to provide the film some substance.
Hannibal Rising essentially got hosed by the critics, turning out a mere 16% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. As I watched the film today, I paid careful attention to the general consensus of the story. Critiques such as “just plain awful” and “plodding revenge story”. The real meat of most of the critical reaction to the film seemed to lie in its inherent unavoidable value: that is was a tale of origin and that it gave Hannibal’s future actions a sort of viable explanation. So what’s the flaw in that?
Directed by Peter Webber, Hannibal Rising is actually a fairly gorgeous looking piece. Webber uses long shots of scenery to establish scenes and moods throughout the film, setting up Lecter’s background as a bloody reality on the canvas of various parts of the world. Webber gives us the stark realities of Lithuania in the freezing cold at the beginning of the film, using the desperation of men to serve as the genuine catalyst to Hannibal’s future actions of terror. Perhaps people were bothered by the notion that Lecter’s life patterns began with a semi-justifiable arrangement, taking the “monster” out of a classic film bad guy. The flaw in that logic is that Lecter belongs to Harris and Harris has created his own cerebral vortex within which Lecter’s actions have reasoning or logic all their own. Our assumptions of Lecter from previous films as being an “evil man” really, sadly, don’t get to count and they certainly don’t get to disparage a film showcasing the man’s origin.
Webber shoots early scenes with a stark combination of chaos and beauty, capturing Lecter’s early life with bleak chills. As Lecter grows up, the direction takes new focus and we are introduced to new characters and new locales. Hannibal Lecter is played by Gaspard Ulliel, a French actor. Ulliel brings an intensity to Lecter and he logically progresses the descent into madness that is present in the good doctor. Lecter’s actions are prompted by revenge, but what turns Hannibal into the madman he will be is his tendency to go one step further into brutality. He doesn’t want to turn the war criminals that destroyed his family in to the police for justice; he wants to kill them brutally and eat them.
Hannibal Rising is about the evolution of vengeance and how it can turn a man into a madman, plain and simple. Perhaps this component of Hannibal’s character was unsatisfying for those wanting more of the same goodness that came out of The Silence of the Lambs, but we’re dealing with very different plot components and with the evolution of a character in Lecter that has already aged and is nearing the end of his life. As Ulliel’s Lecter evolves, he crosses all of the same bridges regular people cross. He finds “love” and he encounters bullying. Yet the way in which Hannibal meets these normal parts of life evokes a certain broadening of his character and Ulliel draws out every ounce of this progression, right up until the moment he’s ruthlessly munching a man’s face off on a barge.
Hannibal Rising looks gorgeous and it captures Hannibal’s descent (or rise) into madness with precision, laying the framework for a monster mastermind that is both sympathetic and disarmingly violent. There are some flaws with the film, of course, including the action-sequence nature of some of the scenes and a few minor script points that generated some unwarranted laughs (Lecter saying “but he ate my sister” was hilarious). Still, Hannibal Rising is a far more compelling and interesting piece than most critics gave it time for and, judging by the majority of reviews I have read, most of the critics simply had no interest in Harris telling a story that didn’t match their own premonitions.
Trailer:
