The Hunger Games
- 142 minutes. PG 13.
“A spark is fine as long as it is contained. So contain it.”
In a distant future, the country of Panem is punished for a terrible rebellion by sacrificing two teens, one male, one female, from each of their districts, in a televised battle. Twenty-four teen tributes go in, only one survives (It feels like some library events I’ve had).
The teens are picked in a lottery called the reaping. They enter from 12-18 years old. If they need food during the year, they can barter in exchange for more chances in the lottery (you thought this year’s friends library raffle was tough). The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), is from District 12. Each district is responsible for providing a resource to the Capitol, District 12 being the miners. Much like the indie hit, Winter’s Bone, Lawrence’s first starring role, the brief glimpse of District 12 was similar to the poverty and isolation of Appalachia. Everything is gray, bland, and dirty. Katniss must go beyond the boundaries of her district to illegally hunt to feed her family. While Katniss fears that Gale (Liam Hemsworth), her childhood friend and hunting companion, might be chosen, it is a surprise when her younger sister, Prim (Willow Shields) is picked during her first reaping. Katniss volunteers to go in her place, an unprecedented act of bravery in her poverty-stricken district.
The blandness of District 12, conveyed through the costumes and lighting, juxtaposes successfully with the color and excess of the Capitol. No one screams Capitol more than Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), tribute hostess. This movie couldn’t have been made at a better time. The Capitol represents the rich, lavish, unfair lives that we see in reality. Meanwhile, residents of the districts are starving. The Capitol has no pity for the districts and no thought of their situations. Little Capitol children are given gifts in honor of Hunger Games, and run around without a care in the world, while Katniss and twenty-three other teens are battling for their lives. I pictured the Capitol fashion as more futuristic-looking than the 80’s puffy sleeved influences shown, but I was a big fan of those peacock eyelashes.
Katniss is full of fire, inside and out. While this movie missed the fierceness of its Japanese predecessor Battle Royale (2000), Hunger Games has more heart. Jennifer Lawrence never misses her mark. She carries this movie. Katniss is a strong determined woman, a good role model for teens, unlike the vampire obsessed Bella Swan from Twilight. Katniss doesn’t need to be rescued by some heartthrob. In fact, she rescues boys! Most people won’t connect with many of the minor characters in this movie, unless they have read the books. Rue, Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, and Gale are just some of the few relationships glossed over, although, rock star Lenny Kravitz as fashion designer Cinna, is a soft, heartwarming surprise.
The jarring camera worked sometimes, other times it just made you dizzy. It worked to exemplify the nervousness of Katniss, and the flurry of events prior to and during the games, but while seeing daily life scenes of District 12, it was unnecessary. The big explosion and hallucinations from stingerjackets were some of my favorite cinematic scenes from a technical standpoint. Sound and visuals were toyed with. It made the audience feel like they were experiencing it, too.
I can’t believe the audience’s reactions to kids dying (people ,this movie is about battling to the death, kids are going to die). It wasn’t that shocking, nor was it gory (I’d also prefer that anytime “said character who
was going to die later” was onscreen, people in the audience didn’t go AWWW). I think my imagination while reading the book made it much more gruesome than watching it. Many of the bloody carnage scenes aren’t dwelled upon. It also lost some of the fierce harshness of the games, but that’s the sacrifice Hollywood had to make in order to sell it to their teen market.
Movies are always going to change a few things from the book, but for once, it acted like a nice companion to the novel. Minor characters like Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the mockingjay, District 12, and Katniss’ past weren’t explained fully. Hopefully, this makes the audience want to go out and read more, rather than frustrate them. It introduced The Hunger Games to a whole new readership. A librarian can’t complain about that, but I can complain about the Peacekeepers looking like something out of Spaceballs.
