When you think of the Hunger Games, a girl in a braid with a bow, wearing a gold pin, beating the odds with the boy she loves probably comes to mind. But a new addition to the movie franchise “Ballad of Song Birds” and snakes breaks the formula, impressing fans with how faithful the movie was to the book. With the 3 parts that make up the movie—each about an hour for the 2 hour 40 minute run time—they manage to not waste a single minute, it is rated PG-13 for strong violence and disturbing material. It is currently in theaters until January 2024, and has not been announced on any streaming services.
The story follows the future president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, and his experience mentoring a tribute in the tenth annual Hunger Games He is mentoring the female tribute from district 12, Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler, a colorful girl under unfortunate circumstances when she got chosen for the games.
There were a multitude of allusions and connections to the original trilogy, from parallels between Katniss and her namesake plant to songs played throughout the series. The new entry to the series gives origins to many of the songs, particularly “The Hanging Tree.” This movie was dedicated to setting up the original, and providing backstory, instead of adding plot.
The movie explores the juxtaposition between the treatment of the current tributes’ and the tributes 65 years later. In the original trilogy, set over half a century later, the tributes are treated like royalty, being given anything and everything they could dream of in the Capitol and all the space they could ever want. In Song Birds and Snakes, they are treated like cattle, herded into the arena without food or water and stored in a zoo to be gawked at in the meantime. It really shows the contrast between how the capital treated the districts over time.
The biggest differences between the book and the movie were violence levels. The violence was less gruesome in the movie to reach a younger audience. However, toning down the violence did not majorly change the plot in anyway.
They did an all around good job, but what stood out the most to me was the casting and the production design. All of the sets were impeccable and match the intended aesthetic perfectly. With the brutalist style matching the retro-futurism of the Capitol, it provides the look of a place faking how rebuilt and reorganized it is.
The casting was done really well, with a diverse cast that matched the roles of their characters. The actors all knew their roles well, making their characters as fleshed out, if not more, than in the book. Blyth brought out the villainous side of Snow, while still maintaining how charming he is to his peers. Zegler fits the extravagant personality of Lucy Grey, with her beautiful voice and clear determination.
