Let the Games Begin!

Many films we see today are based on bestselling novels. Some of those films turn out to be great films. Others, like the Twilight films, turn out to be horrible films that don’t attract any audience members except for teenage girls and the poor bastards that are dragged along because their significant others want to see sparkling vampires.

            Gary Ross’s The Hunger Games is based on the besting selling series by author Suzanne Collins, who also helped write the screenplay for this film. The Hunger Games is different than many other book series made into films as it was enjoyable to watch for audience members of all ages. This film has a lot to do with kids growing up too fast, having to deal with a government that is a dictatorship, and learning the values of life and death.

            In the film, sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) had to grow up too fast because of her father’s death. This has a strong emotional impact on her mother (played by Paula Malcomson) and her younger sister Primrose (played by Willow Shields). This prompted Katniss to grow up fast to keep her family alive, making her the provider of her home.

            The film is based in a dystopian near-future where the United States is divided into twelve districts. It is all controlled by the Capitol, which the audience members can view as a dictatorship, and it feels like watching a World War II film due to the muted colors and scenes that bring forth images of concentration camps. The Capitol selects a boy and a girl to represent each district in the Hunger Games, a competition where kids fight to the death for a winner-takes-all game as punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol.  

                The Hunger Games shows the choice of life and death. Having these teenagers in this game and killing each other is either exciting or heartfelt to the audience. It hits the audience hard and breaks their hearts when a character they get to know dies.  With Katniss, the audience gets to see her heart break when someone she cares about passes away and her transformation into a cold blooded killer that will do anything to survive.

            Because some of the pieces in the book were taken out for the film, it can be kind of confusing at first about why the dystopian future is broken up into districts for audience members who haven’t read the book. However, through the movie, the audience gets to understand the world this film is in. The Hunger Games is a good film that clearly represents the heart of the books and gives a message of fighting for your loved ones and fighting for what you believe in.