Imagine being a small boy caught in the midst of war. After escaping from your home with your parents and your adorable baby sister, the Nazis invade and shoot your dad dead in the yard. A Russian tank shoots at the planes overhead and causes one to crash and explode on the tank, near where your mother was standing.

Now you and your sisters are orphaned and you must protect her, but looting war criminals take over the cabin in which you are hiding.

To stay alive in the frigid temperatures of the winter, the criminals decide to kill your ailing sister and eat her. All of this would severely scar even the purest of souls.

These are just some of the things that Hannibal Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) endures in “Hannibal Rising.”

“Hannibal Rising” is a revenge story that revolves around Hannibal’s encounter with war crimes as a youngster. He is unable to remember what happened to his sister except in his dreams – until he steals a truth serum during medical school.

He vows to avenge his sister Mischa’s (Helena Lia Tackovsca) murder by killing four of the five men who ate her (one was already dead).

Ulliel captures what Hannibal would have been like at the beginning of his killing career. His mannerisms and way of speaking emulate Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Hannibal in the later films (“Red Dragon,” “Silence of the Lambs” and “Hannibal”).

Like Hopkins, Ulliel exudes a charismatic personality, while at the same time showing how dead Hannibal is inside. Ulliel’s dark, beady eyes help with this idea of Hannibal being soulless. The dimples Ulliel sports make Hannibal’s smile charming but also menacing.

It’s nice to see a prequel done correctly, and this one was. It stayed true to the story and explained Hannibal’s turn to cannibalism.

The detective in the movie probably said it best when he said that Hannibal the child died in the snow, but his heart died with his sister.