You’re probably familiar with the “Hunger Games” franchise.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) was the latest piece to this. In my opinion, it was one of the best movies of the “Hunger Games” franchise. This movie is a prequel to all the other “Hunger Games” movies, a wildly popular dystopian series that started in 2012.
In this movie, the 10th Hunger Games is taking place. The once-rich Snow family has been living in poverty due to unfortunate circumstances. Coralinus Snow has made it his goal to bring his family back to their former glory.
He and other students at his academy become mentors in the 10th game to win the Plinth Prize. This goes well until he falls in love with Lucy Grey Baird, a tribute for the game.
He breaks many rules, risking his chance of winning if he is caught. The outcome of the 10th game and his actions will affect his future.
The dark theme and foreshadowing of this movie are what made it engaging.
One of the many phrases repeated throughout the movie was, “I want my enemies to see a rainbow of destruction engulfing the world,” Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the first Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games.
Lile Bekaia, 9, noticed there was a rainbow at the end of the movie foreshadowing this quote. Rewatching the previous movies was a whole new experience, having seen Coriolanus through a new perspective.
Katniss Everdeen is a strong female character, played by Jennifer Lawrence throughout the whole movie. From her most iconic scene when she volunteered as tribute for her younger sister, Primrose Everdeen.
When watching The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), Everdeen and Lucy Gray are quite similar which is probably why Snow—- when he first met Everdeen.
Both characters are seen correlating with mocking jays; which, symbolizes rebellion in the series.
Katniss and Lucy sang “The Hanging Tree” in their movies. Even though they’re the same song, Katniss sang another version as a sign of rebellion. Lucy on the other hand sang about another character; Arlo Chance, who was hanged in District 12.
The Hunger Games paved the way for many dystopian movies and books to come out during the 2010s. Some of these include Divergent (2014), A Star Wars Story (2016), The Hunt (2020), Ready Player One (2018), etc.
This movie is available to watch on Vudu, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Google Play Movies.
