By: Kimberly Grant
Have you ever met someone who was broken? The type of person that seems irredeemable and you wonder what made them the way they are. What went wrong in their life to make them this way? Now, I’m no psychoanalyst, but I do know about character development. So, in the latest film of the Hunger Games franchise, we the audience get insight into Coriolanus Snow; known to Hunger Games fans as the evil President Snow.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is out in theaters on November 17.
The Ballad
Written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt (based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins), the story takes us to the 10th Annual Hunger Games (63 years before Katniss ended the Games). This particular Hunger Games is a game-changer. It’s when the Games introduces things like bringing gifts to tributes and allowing the people of the Capitol to get to know the tributes before sending them to slaughter.
Before he becomes President Snow, young Coriolanus (played by Tom Blyth) is the starving son of a late aristocrat. His goal is to earn the prize money from the Games as a mentor in order to help his family. It seems noble at first, until you realize that saving his family includes sending his tribute, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), into an arena to murder other children to keep herself alive.
If you are familiar with the previously released Hunger Games movies, then this isn’t news to you. This particular film, while being an origin story, still has the same tropes as the previous films. Children from the 12 districts are forced to compete in a barbaric sport that’s meant to teach their people a lesson about rising up against the Capitol, while entertaining the people of the Capitol. It’s downright disgusting.
The Songbird & the Snake
The characters in the title are Lucy Gray and Coriolanus, respectively. They are two people from two different worlds who are forced together for survival; literally. Like any young adult story, these two characters form an unlikely bond that has them both breaking rules Romeo & Juliet style.
Lucy Gray is a free spirit artist who has a big heart and puts others before herself. She also has a tremendous singing talent. You will find yourself rooting for her because she’s just a great person all around. So, great that she seems poised to make Coriolanus Snow a better person. Although….
I was hoping that Coriolanus’ proximity to Lucy Gray would somehow make him a better human being. We all know who he becomes, but there is still that glimmer of hope. What made President Snow (Donald Sutherland) the monster that he is? It’s more of a nature versus nurture question. The environment he was brought up in told him that he is superior to the people of the districts; even though he and his family often went hungry. His genetic nature is that of someone who cares for his family and will stop at nothing to ensure their comfort. It makes him the perfect villain. Coriolanus Snow is a man who does bad things for the good of others; in his mind. In reality, he’s just terrible.
On Display
The Hunger Games are barbaric and the people of the Capitol are just as barbarous. They treat the people of the districts as if they’re animals. Their lack of compassion for human life is appalling. This is the point that Collins wanted to make from the first Hunger Games novel. Songbirds & Snakes keeps with this tradition to make audiences think about the ways in which we treat our fellow humans. It’s why this latest film is just as great as the previous films.
Director Francis Lawrence is the same person who helmed the previous films in the franchise except the first (The Hunger Games). Given his previous experience, he clearly understood the assignment. Songbirds & Snakes gives the right tones to make the audience really feel the despair of the districts and the callousness of the Capitol. He’s also the celebrated director of Red Sparrow, I Am Legend, episodes of Apple TV’s See, as well as music videos for Beyonce’s Run the World (Girls) and Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.
Superb Talent
Just as the previous films attracted great talent, Songbirds & Snakes does not disappoint. Blyth’s (The Gilded Age) quiet fierceness and Zegler’s beautiful voice (she is Maria in West Side Story) aren’t the only talent in this film. Viola Davis is scary good as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, who is the head of the Hunger Games and knows all. Hunter Schafer plays Coriolanus’ cousin, Tigris, who tries to help him remember that he has humanity. As we know from the franchise, her efforts aren’t effective.
Josh Andrés Rivera (also in West Side Story)is Coriolanus’ classmate and other voice of reason, Sejanus Plinth. Sejanus is the character the audience will root for almost as much as they do for Lucy Gray. Peter Dinklage plays Dean Casca Highbottom and he doesn’t disappoint as a man trying to declaw Coriolanus while he’s still young. And, then there’s Jason Schwartzman’s Lucky Flickerman. Lucky is the most callous of all characters as the first host of the Hunger Games.
If you’re reading this and thinking that I was turned off by the Hunger Games franchise, you should re-read this review. It’s not that I was turned off. It was that this film does what it’s supposed to do. It’s shocking and appalling in a way that makes the audience look inward. It also shows that some people are just born bad, which makes for a great villain in a story. Not so much for a human being.
You can read other reviews by K. A. Grant in her Entertainment Blog.
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