Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising tells the tale of Hannibal Lectors childhood, and why he is like he is. The film starts on the brink of war with Hannibal at home with his family in the mountains of Lithuania, showing the loving and compassionate side to the little boy, however all that changes when the family abandon their mansion and head into the woods to an old shack, not to give too much away Hannibal and his sister get left alone in the house in the woods, and eventually bandits find them and at first use them for cover from the German army, but later and more disturbingly for food, with the band of men taking Hannibal’s young sister away and coming back with a broth, this leads to both Hannibal’s cannibalism and his revenge against the men, which from then on takes the lead story in the movie, with a teenage Hannibal heading to France to learn how to be a doctor, returning to Lithuania to avenge his sisters murder.

If you liked all of the other Hannibal Lector stories, this is a worthy addition, but beware there is little to no gore within the content of the movie, and it doesn’t feature a fast paced police enquiry etc, essentially it is a story of why Hannibal is as he is, how he became a doctor, and why he turned up in America. I personally loved the story which had strong acting from Gaspard Ulliel as teenage Hannibal, and Rhys Ifans as Grutas (One of the bandits), however many people felt let down by the film, probably expecting more of a gore fest.

If your interested to know about Hannibal’s background then watch it, if your just in the mood for a horror/thriller steer clear.