Hannibal is a 2001 film, directed by Ridley Scott about Hannibal Lecter's time in Italy following his escape from imprisonment. It is based on a novel, the last in the trilogy, by Thomas Harris. It is set ten years after The Silence of the Lambs where a surviving victim of Lecter's is out to torture him and then kill him.

Clarice Starling is in disgrace after killing five people in a botched drug raid. After a hearing, she is sent to interview Mason Verger, Dr Lecter's only surviving victim, after hearing that he has information.

Mason Verger tells the story of how he was under a court order to have therapy sessions with a psychiatrist, Lecter, after being arrested on child sex abuse charges. Lecter forced him to inhale amyl nitrite fumes and told him to peel off his face and feed it to his dogs. After the incident, Verger is hideously disfigured and paralysed.

Meanwhile in Florence, Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is investigating the disappearance of a library curator. Here he meets Dr. Fell, the new curator. Later, Pazzi discovers that "Dr Fell" is Dr Hannibal Lecter. Pazzi, it turns out, is working for Mason Verger, who is hell bent on revenge. After a discussion at the library, Lecter murders Pazzi by hanging, then disemboweling the officer, a fate that Pazzi's ancestor Francesco Di Pazzi suffered 500 years before. Lecter escapes to America.

At the FBI, Inspector Paul Krendler is also working with Verger, by using Starling as bait to lure Lecter out of hiding. Lecter is captured by Verger's henchmen and is taken to a barn, where there are several large, man eating boars ready to eat Lecter alive. Starling rescues Lecter and Verger is pushed into the pit and is devoured. Lecter takes a wounded Clarice out of the barn.

In a particularly horrifying scene, Lecter captures Paul Krendler at his home and lobotomises him while still awake. Krendler is fed parts of his own brain. Lecter again escapes and leaves the country.

Starring Anthony Hopkins in his famous role, as well as Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling.

Trivia

The scenes set in Clarice's apartment were filmed in a house on Grove Ave. in Richmond, VA. Also, some scenes were set at Biltmore House.

External links

• Official site
• The Hannibal Lecter Studiolo