More than any of the previous installments in the Hannibal Lecter series, this prequel turns our ghoulish fascination with the character into a moral quandary. In explaining how Hannibal turned into a monster – it has something to do atrocities he witnesses as a boy during World War II – the movie gets us to sympathize with this particular devil. As a result, the usual sadism and violence has a new kind of shock – one tinged with our guilt. Hannibal Rising works as a thriller, but the movie is far more interesting as a clever exercise in audience implication. It forces us to consider the cannibal within. With French actor Gaspard Ulliel, carrying just the right air of arrogance as Lecter.
