I searched the archives, but couldn’t find any reference to this particular question. I will admit that I have not read the book, so these questions may be addressed in it. I went to see “Hannibal” this weekend, and (personal distaste for the movie aside) had a few questions concerning the ending. First of all, Ray Liotta’s character. Right before the climactic confrontation between Lecter and Clarice, Ray’s character has his skull cut open, pieces of his brain are being removed, cooked, and fed to him. While I know that the brain has no pain receptors, and that there are many portions of the brain that are “unused,” is this really feasible? And how badly would one have to be drugged to not feel your flesh and skull being cut and sawed into, but remain concious and upright for the procedure? Or did I miss something as I leaned over to crack a joke because of how bored I was? Second, when Lecter opts to lop off his own hand instead of Clarice’s. The next scene with him shows him on a plane with basically just a sling on his arm. Maybe my knowledge of medicine in a little lacking, but wouldn’t a severed hand require immediate attention to stop the victim from bleeding to death? And, given that the case, shouldn’t he have been ID’d at the hospital? Given that the police were coming during the confrontation, I can’t see him taking time at the house to operate on himself.
Search them again… the answer is in there.
But to let you know, it is possible. The brain itself feels no pain. Some modern medical procedures involve a concious person to have his/her brain exposed while doctors poke around a bit. One I saw involved a lady identifying pictures every 30 secs or so. They wanted to make sure her memory wasn’t getting screwed up or something, or it was to help them locate the area they needed to operate on or something… i dunno, it was a while ago, but it happend.
Anyway, yes that is possible. And he did not cut open his skull at the table, it was done earlier. He probably drugged him up and cut away.
As far as the hand thing… well it is not like he instantly was on the plane. It would have been boring to watch him make reservations… buy the tickets… pack his luggage, etc. It could have been weeks later for all we know. Also, his hand would probably have needed medical attention right away, but considering he is a doctor who has no problem performing brain surgery and removing bullets- he could have fixed his hand blind folded with one hand tied behind his back… errrr wait… well, at least blind folded anyway! 
With the hand thing, my thought was that he probably severed the handcuffs apart where the chain that joined them was. He then wore the sling to cover up the handcuff that he still had on his wrist.
I wouldn’t say there are unused parts of the brain. Hannibal performed a frontal lobotomy in the course of filleting Krenler’s gray matter. If Hannibal had taken steps to improve Krednler’s odds of survival he could have left him a drooling idiot but that’s the kind of thing Mason Verger would have done.
The ending with Hannibal cutting himself free of Clarice was a big departure from the book’s ending which was even less believable.
Found this, http://www.scc.net/~lkcmn/lobotomy/lobo/brief.html
frontal lobotomies were performed on awake patients in the 30s. One of the criteria was to remove tissue until the patient was drowsy and disoriented.
And of course, let us not discount the fact that Anthony Hopkins is experienced in the art of cutting off one’s own hand, since he already had to do it in Titus. One might say he’s an old hand at this. 
Lecter took only a couple slices, right? If he had sliced farther into Krendler’s brain, he eventually would have cut into the part of the brain that is involved with language/thought processes. Krendler would have started babbling more and maybe lost language ability altogether. So I guess it’s possible that Krendler could have sat there and maintained simple conversations with Lecter and Starling, although I’m not sure how long he could have kept it up as the meal progressed.
Only in Hollywood. Law enforcement-quality handcuffs are made of Carbon and while they could be cut (broken) with an axe at full swing, they most certainly could not with a meat cleaver swung from shoulder height against a butcher block.
On the other hand (heh), I assumed he lopped the thumb and index finger only, keeping three fingers though losing prehensility of the hand. Lecter could overcome that.
As for the departure from the book: I agree the conclusion of the book was even less believable than that of the film, not to mention less imaginative. I still believe Hopkins is the master and he should have been in Castaway, not Hanks.
And wouldn’t the handcuff (if it was still on his wrist) set off the metal detectors at the airport?
[spoiler hijack] I guess I’m one of the 12 people who actually preferred the book’s ending over the movie’s ending. In the book, Starling winds up living with Lecter, quite willingly, as his lover. Although that wasn’t the ending I expected, I didn’t dislike it. It actually made sense. With Lecter, Clarice found the understanding and respect she’d been unsuccessfully trying to find at the FBI. She was able to live comfortably and grow, both intellectually and (for lack of a better word ATM) culturally. Joining Lecter as she did opened up her world considerably. If you remember how and where Starling grew up, then you can see how much of an impact immersing herself in Lecter’s lifestyle would have on her. Yeah, she could have found all that good stuff with a nice Memphis boy, but Lecter is just so much better conversation. Just MHO. [end hijack]
Making a handcuff key is trivial if you aren’t pressed for time. They are all the same and quite simple.
Umm…wrong movie, Padeye
Arnold W: Dude, that was painful to read.
To avoid further MPSIMS-ification of this thread, I’d like to point to this link: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59356 Hey, how bout that! I looked something up! The Search feature isn’t just for show, it’s full of all kinds of useful information! [end Lionel Hutz impersonation]
J.E.T.
Why didnt clarise just take the gun downstairs with her at the end? and isnt she kind of spry for someone shot in the shoulder and then operated on?