NO SPOILERS
Suzanne Collins brought her most recent Hunger Games book “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” to the movie theaters on Nov 17. It is the prequel to her blockbuster Hunger Games trilogy, which have already become movie adaptations.
Although I read and watched all the books and movies based on the Hunger Games trilogy, I only read the first few chapters of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” However, having background on the trilogy made it easy for me to understand what was happening in the movie.
Even if you didn’t have any knowledge of “The Hunger Games,” I thought the movie wasn’t confusing. Despite “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” being the prequel, I would recommend at least watching or reading the first book “The Hunger Games” beforehand for clarity. This is because the new movie will have a lot more meaning since you can find many connections between the prequel and the rest of the movies in the trilogy.
The prequel occurs 64 years before “The Hunger Games.” It follows 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) before he became the corrupt and president of the Capitol. In order to maintain his family’s prestige in the Capitol, Coriolanus is assigned to mentor tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) who comes from the bottommost district, District 12. Coriolanus is to make Baird the winner of the 10th annual Hunger Games and more importantly a spectacle in order to draw in more viewers.
At first, while I was watching “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” I was caught off guard by how the movie was split into three parts: The Mentor, The Prize, and The Peacekeeper. However, I later realized it made complete sense and gave viewers a heads-up of what stage of Coriolanus’ life you were going to watch. This helped me see Coriolanus’ character development better because the movie took many different turns, leading to different unexpected results.
In all of Collins’ movie adaptations, she always invents clever obstacles for the Hunger Games arena that you’ve never seen before, keeping you wide awake. I was surprised that the 10th Hunger Games event was only a short part of the movie because typically in the trilogy, it spans most of the movie.
Like most dystopian movies, I found myself averting my eyes a few times because there was a lot of gore. It was disgusting to watch some of the injuries that the tributes suffered and ways they died in the Hunger Games. There was a lot of violence throughout the whole movie, which could get a bit tiring for some people, but I found it was also necessary to keep the plot going.
One of my favorite things about the movie is that there were so many twists that I didn’t see coming. Another key element of the movie that I enjoyed was Rachel Zegler’s singing. She has a beautiful voice that perfectly encapsulates the voice of Lucy Gray. The songs also have a deeper meaning if you can spot the easter eggs. For example, “The Hanging Tree” is sung in both “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and “Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” movies. Lucy Gray wrote and sang the song in the prequel, which Katniss Everdeen, a Hunger Games victor, would also sing over 64 years later as a rebellion anthem. However, I wish there was more to the ending because it left me with so many questions.
I give “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” a 4.5/5 because it was one of the best movies I’ve watched this year, and I loved seeing the different connections between the prequel and the movies in the trilogy. Nothing can beat the original “The Hunger Games,” but I think that this movie will definitely become a classic like the rest of the trilogy.
