2007年VOA标准英语-Life of Young Hannibal Lecter Comes to Big Scre

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
11 February 2007

Hannibal Lecter, one of the most intriguing¹ and chilling characters from modern popular literature, gets his 'back story' in a dark thriller² from the director of the art house hit Girl With A Pearl Earring³. Alan Silverman has a look at Hannibal Rising.

Gaspard Ulliel in the movie "Hannibal Rising"

How does a man become a monster? Readers first encountered the physician-turned-murderer who dines on the flesh of his victims in the novels of Thomas Harris. Hannibal Rising goes back to the character's origins: a young boy growing up in World War II Germany, his parents are tortured and killed leaving only him to protect his little sister. When the Nazis⁴ are defeated, the young Lecter children fall into the hands of ruthless Soviet⁵ renegades. The Hannibal who finally escapes is scarred for life.

French actor Gaspard Ulliel stars as Hannibal in his late teens and early 20's: a medical student who is fascinated by cadavers⁶ and anatomy⁷, but whose unimaginably harsh experiences prevent him from forming relationships with the living. "He has this kind of protection that he builds, so you can barely see any emotions in his eyes sometimes; but he can still feel them, I think, deep inside him," he says.

That ability to suppress emotion becomes apparent when a lout⁸ of a butcher is murdered in the French town where Hannibal lives. The police inspector⁹ suspects the young medical student, who turns the interrogation back on the interrogator¹⁰.

There is also the shadow of what young Hannibal would become: the frighteningly tightly wound character as played by Anthony Hopkins in 1991's The Silence of The Lambs and two subsequent films: Hannibal in 2001 and Red Dragon the following year. Ulliel says his version of Lecter could not ignore Hopkins's Oscar-winning portrayal¹¹. "It was important because I knew that the audience would expect a few things and look for similarities between my character and Anthony Hopkins. But it's a bit tricky¹² because, for me, my work in this film was not to try to imitate or copy Anthony Hopkins," he says. "I think the idea was more to try to pick a few details in his performance and then mix it to my own recipe to create my own Hannibal Lecter."

In fact, says director Peter Webber, it would have been foolish not to acknowledge the Hopkins version. "I don't think there will ever be a moment where Hannibal Lecter is quite as intriguing or as chilling as in the first three minutes that we meet him in "The Silence of the Lambs." That's an iconic moment of cinema. You can't hope to reach that pitch, but you have a damned good time and get an awful lot of entertainment out of trying to get there," he says.

We spent a lot of time looking at "The Silence of the Lambs" trying to deconstruct that performance and work out what it was that Hopkins had done as an actor, because he's obviously not being himself. It's a performance. Then we took one or two elements of that and Gaspard was able to work them into his performance ...and I think that's enough to allow an audience to believe that some 20 to 30 years later this young man might grow up and develop into the Hopkins character.

The "Hannibal Rising" story also includes Lecter's aunt by marriage, the Japanese-born Lady Murasaki, played by Gong Li.

The Chinese screen star says her character realizes right from the beginning that there is something wrong with her nephew. She tries to help by teaching him the Japanese warrior's spirit of 'Bushido;' but, as Gong Li puts it, his 'thirst for revenge' for what happened to his family drives him beyond anything Lady Murasaki can do to stop his terrible rampage. Director Peter Webber believes that theme makes Hannibal's path particularly relevant in today's world.

"I don't want to get into any political discussion, but there is frankly¹³ an emotional and visceral response to seeing that cycle of revenge and violence that we see in Iraq and elsewhere in the world ...and I think that on one level this movie reflects that, but the equally important thing is that what happens to Hannibal: by taking revenge he destroys himself as a human being. He scours¹⁴ out any sense of empathy, any sense of humanity, and he becomes a monster filled with rage and blood lust¹⁵. I think that is important to remember as well. It is a perfectly¹⁶ human and natural desire to want to take revenge, but you have to be very careful because taking revenge can kill you. Using the tools of your enemy can turn you into your enemy, which is what happens to Hannibal," he says.

The cast of Hannibal Rising also features Rhys Ifans as the brutal¹⁷ ringleader of young Lecter's captors; and Dominic West plays the French police inspector who comes close to capturing the budding young mass murderer. An international production by Italian filmmaker Dino DeLaurentiis, "Hannibal Rising" was shot on location in Lithuania, France and the Czech Republic.

1 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

3 earring   

n.耳环，耳饰

参考例句：

• How long have you worn that earring?你戴那个耳环多久了？
• I have an earring but can't find its companion.我现在只有一只耳环,找不到另一只了。

4 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 cadavers   

n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Human cadavers were the only known source of hGH, and demand was intense. 人类尸体是hGH已知的惟一来源，而且需求广泛。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Will there be enough cadavers for each group this term? 这个学期每一个组都有足够的尸体吗？ 来自电影对白

7 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

8 lout   

n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人

参考例句：

• He's just an ill-bred lout.他是个缺乏教养的乡巴佬。
• He had no training, no skills and he was just a big, bungling,useless lout!什么也不行，什么也不会，自己只是个傻大黑粗的废物！

9 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

10 interrogator   

n.讯问者；审问者；质问者；询问器

参考例句：

• No,I was not mad, but my interrogator was furious. 不，我没疯，只是质问我的人怒不可遏。 来自互联网
• Miss Fan lacked such an interrogator with whom she could whisper intimately. 范小姐就缺少这样一个切切私语的盘问者。 来自互联网

11 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

12 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

13 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

14 scours   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的第三人称单数 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• The roasting pan scours better than pot. 烤盘比锅容易擦干净。
• The best scours for UF membrane washing were 0.1%NaOH and 0.5%U10 solution consecutively washing. 0.1%NaOH 和0.5%U10溶液是理想的超滤膜清洗剂。

15 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

16 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

17 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。