A film review on the movie The Silence of the Lambs

Submitted to: Dr.K.V.K.Santhy Asst.Professor of Criminal Law NALSAR University of Law Submitted by: Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo 2012-50 IInd Year, IIIrd Semester NALSAR University of Law

Introduction
The movie The Silence of the Lambs was a blend of horror and crime genre. The movie was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine, and Scott Glenn. It is based on Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name. The movie was awarded with many prestigious awards like Oscar, BAFTA Awards, and Blue Ribbon award.1 When the movie entered to the theatres it was subject to many criticisms. The films depiction of the homosexual serial killer Buffalo Bill caused many critics on his portrayal of homosexuality as negative and homophobic. On the other hand, many feminist critics praised portrayal of Clarice Starling as a strong feminist making her way in a mans world while rejecting the male supremacy. This movie was one of the movies which popularized the investigating tool i.e. Criminal Profiling. This movie depicts how with the help of criminal profiling an offender can be apprehended without having any solid evidence or clue. Through this paper, researcher has pointed out the various legal aspects of the movie and has given a brief description of Criminal or Offender Profiling.

IMDB, The Silence of the Lambs, available at, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/awards?ref_=tt_awd, last accessed on 17-08-2013

Synopsis
The movie The silence of the lamb depicts how Clarice Starling- a trainee in FBI apprehends a serial killer Buffalo Bill with the help of Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer nicknamed Hannibal the Cannibal, who is a brilliant psychiatrist, now in prison in a maximum-security facility. The movie begins with Jack Crawford, the F.B.I.'s man in charge of Bill's case, assigning Clarice Starling as her assistance in the case. As a part of her job she has to interview Hannibal Lecter and secure his help in drawing a psychological profile of the new killer Buffalo Bill. Hanibal Lecter is a well-known psychiatrist and accused of several murders and cannibalism. Jack Crawford was aware with the wickedness and the piercing personality of his so he had already warned agent Starling to strictly stick to the questionnaire provided by him for criminal profiling and to avoid answering any kind of personal questions if asked by him. Hannibal Lecter was a person who can easily get into the psyche of a person and can break him and make him weak which would have proven counterproductive for FBI. As FBI was completely clueless about Buffalo Bill and his whereabouts, they were unable to stop the killing spree by him so; they had sent Clarice for extracting some information from Lecter about Buffalo Bill. Sending FBI officers for the same task hadnt provided with good results as Lecter refused to answer them, but Starling was young and attractive, with a thought that Lecter might get attracted to the charm of the lady he sent Starling for the task. In the very first interview of Clarice and Lecter Lecter asks him to find Miss Moffet, one of his old patients. Lecter has destroyed or altered the detail of each and every patient of his so finding Miss Mofet was an impossible task. But he has used the word Yourself in his dialogue with her which Clarice found important and upon researching she discoverd that there was a storage facility called Your self which was leased on the name of Miss Hester Mofet. Upon searching the place she found a persons head well preserved in a jar. On their second meeting Clarice enquires about the dead person and Lester revealed that his original name was Benjamin Raspail and he had psychiatric diseases. Clarice pointed out that the name Miss Hester Mofet is an anagram which actually means Find the Rest of Me which indicated towards the death of Benjamin Raspail which was predetermined and the purpose of renting the warehouse was for the same purpose. Upon asking the reason about it Lecter says that his treatment wasnt going anywhere so he killed him. In their second interview Lecter asks for a deal if he wants his help in finding Buffalo Bill. He is ready to help Clarice in preparing the criminal profile of Buffalo Bill if he is taken away from the prison and is given a room with a view of trees or water. In the meantime a womens body is found in a river near West Virginia. She was kept alive for three days, shot and her skin was peeled off from the body before throwing the body into the water. FBI from the past murders by Buffalo Bill deduced that this is also an act by Buffalo Bill. But the reason for keeping them alive for three days before murder and taking out the skin from

the body was still unknown to them. Tracing Buffalo Bill from any direct evidence was not possible because he dumps the body in rivers which removes any kind of traces of the killer from the body. Starling being asked by Jack Crawford about what she sees about these murders replies that Buffalo Bill is a white male as serial killers kills within their own ethnic group and has his own apartment as the way he kills and dumps the bodies requires a great degree of privacy which will not be available in a housing society. Starling also reads that he must be 30-40 years of age as he selects women who are healthily built and killing them requires great physical strength. Also, he is calm and composed, plans the murders and dumps the bodies in a well-planned manner. This showed that the murder was a man of calm and mental maturity. Clarice fears that he will never stop in his work as he is getting better at his work now and he has got real taste of it. Upon close inspection of the dead womens body Starling found a bug cocoon shoved in her mouth which is commonly found in Asia. If someone has to raise those bugs, he has to import the eggs from Asia and has to maintain the same temperature and give him the same food as it is in Asia. After this incident Buffalo Bill kidnaps Catherine Martin, daughter of the USA Senator. Seeing the importance of this matter, Starling goes up to meet Lecter with an offer to transfer him to a mental hospital with a view of the woods nearby. He will have access to books and he can go to an island for a week in every year if he helps her in building the criminal profile of Buffalo Bill. But Lecter was unhappy with this offer instead asked for a quid pro quo with Clarice. Lecter will answer to one question in return of an answer from Starling for a question asked by Lecter on her personal life. Starling started enquiring about Billys profile and for this he enquired about the previous murder done by Bill. He said that the use of moth signifies that Bill wants a change like Moth changes to a butterfly in the same way Bill wants to change from a man to women. It is an accepted fact that transsexuals are not very violent but as he was not a completely transsexual his methods were more savage. Bills surgery for change of sex has been rejected. He wanted to be a transsexual as he has been a subject to many sexual and physical abuses in the childhood by the system so he hated his own identity. He wanted to change from what he is so he wanted a sex reassignment surgery. After the meeting of Clarice and Lecter Dr. Chilton approaches to Lecter and reveals the truth i.e there was never a deal between Crawford and Senator, the FBI simply fooled him. Instead he struck up a deal with Lecter of transferring him to a state prison against the identification of Buffalo Bill by his name. Lecter reveals his name as Louis Friend and he was his patient who was referred to him by Benjamin Raspail as he murdered a transient and cut of his skin. After being transferred to the state prison Starling founds out that the name Louis Friend is nothing but an anagram of Iron Sulfide which is also known as fools gold. This meant that the name given by him to Dr. Chilton was not true. During this meeting of them, he tries to continue

with the quid pro quo system of interaction and is successful in getting out the darkest secret of Clarice Starling. Starling lets out the reason for running out of her uncles house where she was after her father was dead. Her uncle had an animal ranch and one fine day her sleep was interrupted by the sound of crying like a childs vice and when she went to check it she found out that these sounds were of the spring lambs that are generally 3-5 months old were being slaughtered by her uncle. In order to save them she opened the ranch gate but none of the lamb ran, they were all confused and scared of what was happening. Clarice in order to save just one picked up one lamb and tried to run away with it but she failed as the lamb was very heavy and before she could have ran few miles she was intercepted by the sheriffs car. The lamb was taken back from her and was killed. Clarice wakes up in the middle of nights and still hears those cries of lambs. She thinks if she could save Catherine from Buffalo Bill she could stop the screaming and she could be out of this guilt. In return when Clarice asks about Buffalo Bills identity and how could they catch him, Lecter replies saying all that she needs is in the case file. He asks her to find out what does the nature he serves by killing and seeing Clarice clueless in answering the question, he answers it by saying he tries to covet by killing the people. Meanwhile after this incident Lecter escapes from the prison by killing two of the guards. He tears up the facial skin from one of the prison guards and wears it on his face. The medical team mistaken by his identity as one of the guards puts him on an ambulance and on the way, before reaching the hospital, he kills the crew, drives the ambulance to an airport kills a tourist, steals his cash and clothes and escapes from that place. Starling analyzes Lecter's interpretations to the case files and realizes that Buffalo Bill knew his first victim personally. Starling travels to the victim's place and discovers that Buffalo Bill was a tailor. The pattern in which the skins were cut from the dead was identical to one of the dresses found at the place of the first victim. She telephones Crawford to inform him that Buffalo Bill is trying to fashion a "woman suit" of real skin, but Crawford has already to make an arrest, having cross-referenced Lecter's notes with hospital archives and finding a man named Jame Gumb. But Starling continues interviewing friends of Buffalo Bill's first victim while Crawford leads an F.B.I. tactical team to Gumb's address. The house is empty and Starling is led to the house of "Jack Gordon", who she realizes is actually Jame Gumb. She pursues him into his multi-room basement, where she discovers that Catherine is still alive, but trapped in a dry well. After turning off the basement lights, Gumb stalks Starling in the dark with night-vision goggles but gives his position away when he cocks his revolver; Starling turns around just in time and kills him.

Legal Analysis
Talking from the perspective of Indian Penal Code, Hannibal Lecter was arrested because of cannibalism. Cannibalism is as such not a particular offence but murdering the person and eating it is. Eating of human flesh is not an offence in India but murder is. In the beginning of the movie Miggs,a prisoner staying in the prison next to Lecter, shows disrespect towards Clarice Starling

when she goes to meet Lecter. The next day he was found dead by swallowing his own tongue. The movie depicts that Lecter with his mind forced Miggs to commit suicide. This will attract Section 306 of IPC which says if a person abets the suicide of a person he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. In the case of Pallem Deniel Victoralions Victor Manter & Ors. V. State of Andhra Pradesh2 and Sangarabonia Sreenu v. State of Andhra Pradesh3 the basic elements of abetment to suicide was established. It was: i. Suicidal death ii. Abetment iii. Intention of the accused to aid or instigate or abet the deceased to commit suicide. Lecter instigated Miggs suicide by using his skillful mind and his influential speech. He wanted to kill Miggs but, as, he was captivated neither could he start any preparation nor he could do any actus reus for his advancement of mens rea. In the later part of the movie Lecter kills the prison guards and the medical crew. This amounted to murder which will attract S.302 of IPC. In order to kill one of the guards he stroke up his head against the bars of the jail which amounted to his death and beat up the other guard with an iron rod which caused death. The amount of force and the ways/ weapons used in the act clearly indicated that he had the intention of killing the guards and he had sufficient knowledge that this will result in the death of the guards. Buffalo Bill is guilty of kidnapping and murder as he used to kidnap and then kill his victims. Kidnapping is dealt by Section 364 of IPC which says Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person in order that such person may be murdered or may be so disposed of as to be put in danger of being murdered, shall be punished with imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Buffalo Bill always kidnapped his victims in order to kill them and cut the skin to make the suit. Also he will be liable under section 300 of IPC which talks about murder and will be punished under Section 302 of the same act which punishes the murder with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. This movie has also reflected the use of criminal profiling as an important tool of investigation. In this movie Clarice Starling tries to apprehend Buffalo Bill by a profile made by Lecter and ultimately is successful in it. FBI was capable of apprehending Buffalo Bill because of the profile created by Dr. Lecter from his nature of crime, by studying his past crimes and his social and psychological behavior. Criminal Profiling What is criminal profiling?

2 3

(1997) 1 Crimes 449 (AP) (1997) 4 Supreme 214

Criminal profiling, also known as offender profiling, is an investigative technique used to determine the characteristics of an unknown criminal. With the lack of evidences and clues of the offender it becomes difficult to apprehend the criminal and stop further crimes committed by him. Profiling helps in predicting the future crimes to be committed by the offender and to develop a description of the offender which will help the investigative agency in apprehending the criminal or to interrogate the criminal if in custody. The description comprises of factors like psychological variables such as personality traits, psychopathologies and behavior patterns, as well as demographic variables such as age, race or geographic location. Utilizing this information, a profiler constructs a description, or profile, of what police investigators should characteristically look for in a suspect. Criminal profiling is done in cases of offences like serial murders or serial sexual offences. There are two kinds of profiling which is generally accepted and used in the investigation process. They are, namely: i. ii. Geographically Based Techniques Psychologically Based Techniques

Geographically Based techniques: Geographically based techniques uses the environment studies as focus to study the location of the crime. By establishing a relationship between the environment of the crime location and the crime a fair idea of population of that locality is inferred. By ascertaining the particular geographical boundary of a crime profiler narrows down the scope of the offender as it becomes easy to understand the demography of that particular region and then this information is applied to the individual profile. The basis of this method is to limit the locality of the crime location which will help in identifying the offender. The geographical area can be limited by following the The Marauder and The Commuter model. These models are based on the fact that there is always a tendency of individuals to select nearby sites for behavior making their location centralized or the base. By this we can reach to a circular model stating that offender commits the crime alongside the diameter of the circle and his place being the center of

the circle. The following models represent the various possibilities which an offender can opt. The Marauder Model: under this model the offender goes to different place from a base commits the offences and return backs to the base which is the center of the circle. The places in which the crimes are committed can be seen as lying around the diameter of the circle which is formed. This is possibly because the offender is well acquainted with the area and allows him to make an informed decision in furtherance of his act. This relationship between the criminal area and the base limits the geographical boundary which helps the investigating agency to apprehend the criminal. The Commuter Model: in contrast to the above model, here, the offender travels to the area of offence which clearly shows access to transportation facility either by private means or public transport. This results in eliminating any relationship between the area of offense and his residence. But the base or the center of the circle has now shifted outside the circle and the area of the commission of offence lies within the circle. The criminal range is the same as the marauder model but the residential base has shifted from the circle and has now come out. The possible reason for the same is similar to the marauder model. The offender selects the area because he is familiar with the locality which will help him in the furtherance of the crime. Psychologically Based Techniques: This technique is used by the FBI than the geographical profiling. Unlike the geographical profiling technique, this technique uses observable behaviors to reach the psychological background of the offender. This technique uses behavior to reach to the personal characteristics. The cause and effect relationship between personality characteristics and behavior is used conversely by interpreting behavior from the presence or absence of forensic elements and subsequently attaching personality traits. The crime locations forensic elements include the use of weapons, clothing, physical state of the body, location of body disposal, and means by which the victim was approached. FBI noted difference in the use of forensic elements, behavior, and personality varied from person to person. So they classified the offenders into organized and

disorganized offenders. Organized offenders are people with great social relation with people and the victim. They have a full proof plan for the crime and weapons and other forensic elements are used with greater care and caution. Generally, at the place of crime, they do not leave any forensic evidence on the crime scene to minimize the chance of getting discovered. On the other hand disorganized criminals are offenders with little knowledge of forensic, poor in social relations and live alone. As they are not well off socially they are generally poor and lack money, so they commit most of the crimes near their residence and fall under the category of marauder. Under the psychologically based technique the profile of an offender is designed by two methodologies: i. ii. criminal investigative analysis behavioral evidence analysis

Criminal Investigative Analysis Criminal Investigative Analysis believes that the elements of the crime scene represent the offenders personality. This model targets to create a profile based on both personality and demographic traits. The procedure formulated by the FBI includes resources collected from crime scene which includes victimology, forensic reports and autopsy reports. After taking into consideration of all the facts received the motive of the offender is tried to be inferred from the data collected. The facts are then analyzed with past crimes and the behavior and the change in the style of the crime committed which gives an idea of the behavior of the offender with information like his marriage status, gender, race, level of education and the location of the offenders residence relative to the crime scene. It is more preferred than the geographical method as it uses more material and relevant and practical information than using statistical data which are often very difficult and impractical to access.

Behavioral Evidence Analysis: Behavioral evidence analysis also runs on the same principle but differs in information processing. Other profiling methods use inductive reasoning while it uses deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning requires each case should be read individually

without any reference or comparison with previous cases. This helps in preventing generalizing limited data and helps in further narrowing down the scope of investigation. For example, inductive methods determine that the offender likely drove a car because the majority of such crimes involve offenders with cars, the deductive approach would state that the victims body was dumped in a remote area and tire tracks found at the site; therefore, if the tracks belonged to the offender than the offender has access to a vehicle. The inputs for this method range from forensic evidences to crime scene reconstruction to victimology of the crime. At first the information from the forensic evidences with the physical evidences like crime scene photo, reports and information are analyzed. If required a crime scene reconstruction is also done to strike out the uniqueness of the very act from the previous acts. Victimology comes next. The thorough examination of the individual reveals the routine of the individual and the offenders selection process. Next the crime scene characteristics for the specific scene are evaluated. Characteristics such as the location of offence, method of approach to the victim, method of attack adopted, amount and way of use of force, weapon use, planning, and sequence of events are evidence of the offenders behavioral choices. These methods decide the behavior the offender and using deductive reasoning the characteristics of the offender is also discovered. Then the profile of the offender is ready and inclusion of each behavior and characteristics is backed by sound reasoning which gives an understanding to the investigator as to why it is included.4

Young, Theresa M., "Profiling pros and cons: an evaluation of contemporary criminal profiling methods" (2006)Honors Junior/Senior Projects available at http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d10001281 last accessed on 16-082013

Conclusion
The movie the Silence of the Lambs has popularized the use of investigative tool like Criminal Profiling in investigation. In this movie the criminal profile of Buffalo Bill is prepared by Lecter and Starling who by using the psychological based techniques deduced the behavior and characteristics of Buffalo Bill. Leceter deduced from the crimes that use of the moth implied that Buffalo Bill wanted change from his identity. Upon investigation by Starling it was found that he was killing females because he wanted to sew up a suit made up of woman and hid his own identity. The motive of his killing was to covet from the world which was again hinted to Starling by Lecter. Starling also in the movie through her educated guess ascertained the age and built of the offender. As he was killing heavily built women it was inferred that he has to be strong and he had great calm and well planned criminal act which can only be of a person of 3040 years. All this information helped in apprehending Buffalo Bill before he could commit another crime. Though Criminal Profiling has been subject to many criticisms but it has helped in reducing many more offences also. Some of the famous instances where criminal profiling helped were in the cases of Jack the Ripper5 and mad bomber- George Metesky6. The methods currently in practice possess basic flaws. However, this does not imply that criminal profiling is inherently unqualified to serve as a tool since the goal of profiling is identical to standard investigative practices.

Signature Behavior, available at, http://www.all-about-forensic-psychology.com/psychological-profiling.html, last accessed on 17-08-2013 6 Fact Sheet: Criminal Profiling, available at, http://www.eaplstudent.com/component/content/article/155-factsheet-criminal-profiling, last accessed on 17-08-2013