The Hunger Games

I took the afternoon off today and finally went to see The Hunger Games. After finishing the novel (my review), I wasn't quite ready to rush to the theater -- I needed to "sit" on the story for a few days. I'm glad I waited -- this movie was a powerful book-to-screen adaptation, probably one of the best -- in that it is so faithful to the source material -- adaptations that I've ever seen. I suppose that is what you get when the author has a background in screenwriting and helps craft the screenplay (WIN). I'm not interested in rehashing the plot -- if you're unfamiliar with that you can check out my review. But there are points that I want to discuss, so let's go...

First of all, I LOVED the look of District 12. It's described as what once was Appalachia, remote, mountain living -- but Collins's prose is so terse, so matter-of-fact not a lot of time is spent dwelling on Katniss's home (it's just taken as a matter of fact). In the world of the film, District 12 is very Depression-era Appalachia, a bleak, rough existence. Evoking the feel of 1930s-era history is brilliant, a perfect fit for the hardscrabble, coal-mining existence that Katniss hails from. And when we're introduced to the gaudy, colorful world of the Capitol, the differences are so stark as to be horribly jarring. The line of demarcation between the haves of the Capitol and the have nots of District 12 was almost nauseating in a way.

I was incredibly impressed with Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. I've only seen her previously in X-Men: First Class (where she played the young Mystique). At only twenty-one, Lawrence has an assurance and screen presence far beyond her years. In the novel we have the luxury of being completely immersed in Katniss's thoughts and feelings, thanks to the first-person narration. I found Lawrence to be more than up for the challenge of conveying the full scope of Katniss's emotions -- her determination, fear, uncertainty, and anger. And I love the fact that she isn't your typical stick-thin starlet. Physically she was completely believe able for me -- this was a girl at home in the woods, a huntress. Lawrence can be a very expressive actress, and at her age, with the screen presence she has now -- wow, talk about a bright future.

I should probably mention Gale (Liam Hemsworth). Now I've only read the first book, so I don't even understand how there can be such a thing as "Team Gale." So for a character I was already relatively ambiguous about, Hemsworth got the job done. Though I have to say it was rather jarring seeing him without his trademark blonde hair. Oh, one development I did like as far as Gale goes in this film is that we see his troubled reaction to watching the Katniss/Peeta relationship play out during the games, something not possible in the novel.

Now that I've got that Gale person out of the way, I can talk about Peeta. I was a little concerned based on the brief glimpses of Peeta in the previews that Josh Hutcherson would come across as a little too...wooden, I think is the word I'm looking for. I was pleasantly surprised to have my fears proven groundless. Through his performance, Hutcherson grows Peeta from the baker's son, almost shell-shocked at being chosen during the Reaping, to a charismatic, engaging and most importantly, in love, youth on the verge of losing the girl he loves to the Games. I've read several reviews that feel the Katniss/Peeta screen relationship was lacking. Now while I would've always loved to see more of their slow-burning relationship, what we're given on-screen worked extraordinarily well for me. The film allows us to see Katniss's gradually dawning realization that for some reason beyond her comprehension, particularly in the context of the horrible situation they're in, Peeta matters. And Peeta quite frankly adores her, a fact that Hutcherson conveys extraordinarily well.

District 12's Games organizer is the garish Effie Banks, and Elizabeth Banks does a terrific job portraying all of her absurd extremes. And her clothes -- oh they were fantastically realized. I love love loved Lenny Kravitz as the designer Cinna (gold eyeliner and all). He was grounded, as compassionate as can be given the situation -- I was quite happy with the film's delivery of the Cinna/Katniss friendship. And his costumes were extraordinary -- girl on fire, indeed. But even more interesting to me, though, was Woody Harrelson's performance as 12's sole previous victor, the drunken Haymitch. I really liked Harrelson's performance -- in the novel, Katniss is frustrated or hostile to Haymitch much of the time, so I had a hard time getting a good sense of his character, his thoughts and perspective. And Harrelson riddles Haymitch with self-loathing, a quality he gradually puts aside as the realization that he might actually be able to save Katniss and Peeta penetrates his alcohol-clouded brain. At least that's how it hit me.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention Stanley Tucci's performance as Caesar Flickerman, the interviewer and Games commentator. His mannerisms, his blue hair -- oh he was hilarious, and pretty much pitch-perfect for the role. The periodic commentary he shared with Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith was yet another way the filmmakers took the narrative outside of Katniss's head and let us see the Games from the outside in, as it were.

Witnessing Haymitch's behind-the-scenes efforts on behalf of his tributes was one of the "added" scenes in the film, things Katniss could never know because she was locked in the arena. Frankly I thought peeking "behind the curtain" into the making and running of the Games was really pretty fascinating, and for me it succeeded in making the awful horror of the event more impactful, because of the clinical, calculated manner in which the Games are staged. Since I have yet to read Catching Fire, without giving away too many spoilers is the Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley -- WHAT A BEARD) introduced? I can't remember him being mentioned by name at all. Anyways -- I thought Crane's added scenes with President Snow (Donald Sutherland) were really well-done, particularly his realization at the end of the film that he isn't above being a pawn in the Capitol's plans any more than tributes. I also assume that Snow becomes a much bigger player in the second and third novels -- thanks to Sutherland's performance I already hate him. Sutherland was chilling.

I've touched on the development of the Peeta/Katniss relationship in the arena. The second most important event, to my mind anyway, is Katniss's friendship with the District 11 girl tribute Rue (Amandla Stenberg). Stenberg was SO GOOD, the ideal actress to bring Rue's vulnerability to life. Stenberg and Lawrence's scenes broke my heart, particularly her death and Katniss's reaction -- Lawrence's grief was wholly believable and gut-wrenching. Question, to those who've read the books -- is it revealed that Katniss's care for Rue after her death sparks a riot in District 11? Irregardless I thought that was a powerful scene to include in the film, in how it suggests that Katniss (and later Peeta) fan the flames of discontent in the districts.

At the moment I really can't think of another film that was guaranteed blockbuster status that was filmed without much of the gloss and glamour you expect from Hollywood. Director Gary Ross and his team have imbued every aspect of this film with a sense of gritty realism and authenticity, helped by a lot of handheld camera work that adds urgency and energy to sequences, visually mimicking Collins's high-energy prose. Even the film's score (provided by James Newton Howard) eschews the tendency of blockbusters-in-the-making to go for loud and bombastic. The cues evoking the mountainous, folk music traditions of Katniss's home are gorgeous, a stark contrast to the dangers facing her and Peeta in the arena. Like the novel, watching The Hunger Games is an unsettling experience -- I think the film hit me even a tick harder than the  book did, which I thought was an interesting and honestly somewhat unexpected reaction. It isn't the level of violence -- that's certainly there, but honestly there could have been more, all things considered. I think being outside of Katniss's head, seeing her in this unfathomable situation, seeing the people gleefully betting on a tribute's odds in the Capitol, seeing the Gamemaker's employees clinically raining horror down on the heads of survivors in the arena -- seeing all of this drove home the novel's ripping condemnation of our voyeuristic, desensitized society in a fresh, powerful manner.

The Hunger Games is really an extraordinarily well-done adaptation, a prime example, I think, of thoughtful filmmaking. This is a team that cares about the source material, and I dearly hope they carry this passion through to the sequels. I feel like this post only touches on what I could say about this film, what worked, what was changed -- but that would require more thought (and most likely additional viewings). However, if there's anything I haven't touched on (I try so hard to be thorough, ha!) that you'd like to try and discuss please feel free to mention that in the comments.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games Trilogy #1)

By: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic

ISBN: 978-0-439-02352-8

About the book:

Winning means fame and fortune.

Losing means certain death.

The Hunger Games have begun...

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before -- and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review:

All Katniss Everdeen has ever known is the poverty and hunger of life in the Seam, the poorest part of District 12 in the country of Panem. Panem rose from the ashes of what was once North America, now a shining Capitol that wields an iron control over its twelve districts, with an empty thirteenth left wasted as a warning to any who dream of defying the Capitol's rule. The hardscrabble existence of life in one of the poorest districts robbed Katniss of her beloved father, forcing her into the role of family breadwinner through illegal hunting and trade. When Reaping Day arrives -- the annual event when one boy and one girl are randomly chosen to fight in the Hunger Games -- Katniss's world is rocked when her beloved sister Prim is selected as tribute. With no thought but saving her sister, Katniss volunteers to take her place, catapulting her into the national spotlight. The Games are a brutal reminder of the Capitol's iron control, a world Katniss is determined to survive. In a world that seeks to strip individuals of their humanity and individuality, a world that demands unquestioning obedience and conformity, can a mere girl with an unquenchable fire in her survive? For Katniss is determined not to go quietly into that dark night that the Games demands...

The Hunger Games is a wholly absorbing novel of one girl's fight to survive against a system that has reduced her existence, her hope of a future, to a mere "entertainment." Through Collins's relentless, tense, urgent prose we're thrust deep into Katniss's point-of-view. She's an interesting first person narrator -- because of her youth it is perhaps tempting to question the reliability of her viewpoint. But in the end it is the fact that she is such a mass of contradictions -- mature beyond her years as the family provider, jaded, a hardened survivalist, yet uncertain of her own self-worth and unaware of the effect she has on others -- that in the end is what allows one to fully appreciate the horrific implications of the Hunger Games. For Katniss hails from a future where violent death is the biggest entertainment and the greatest weapon the government possesses, where a tribute is reduced to a pawn, their innocence subjugated to society's bloodlust. And the greatest risk Katniss can take is opening her heart to the realization that she is worthy of a love beyond comprehension -- and the greatest rebellion is daring to dictate one's last breath.

Collins's first venture into the world of Panem and its districts is a completely absorbing read, a wild, pulse-pounding ride that grabbed me by the throat and didn't release me until the final page. And even then, the power of this story remained. Collins's invention of the Hunger Games is a searing indictment of our self-gratifying, 24-hour news cycle, reality entertainment obsessed culture, wrapped in a relentlessly thrilling package. There is no time wasted diving deeply into the bleak world of District 12 -- this is a new reality that the narrative drives us to accept in the same manner Katniss and her peers matter-of-factly accept the requirement of tribute and teenage death matches as a simple fact of life. The shock is jarring, Collins daring readers to examine our own culture and its -- dare we think it -- similarities to Panem in the objectification of human life through our entertainment, both reality and scripted, that sterilizes the cost of war, reducing human pain to an arena event.

For all the horror of the harsh reality Collins presents, it's shot through with rays of hope, unexpected moments of light that shine all the brighter for the bleak, repressive regime of Panem with its callous disregard for basic humanity. Peeta, Katniss's fellow tribute from District 12, is a gorgeously-rendered example of humility, self-sacrifice, and love in a world gone mad -- a love so pure, so without reservation, that Katniss simply cannot comprehend it when they first meet. Of course, by focusing on Katniss's coming-of-age journey -- and by association Peeta's as well -- Collins never really fleshes out the identities of their fellow tributes. By making Katniss and Peeta the most sympathetic characters, the ones who capture readers' hearts, it's tempting to forget the cost of their victory -- until we see it etched in the emotional wounds of their hollow victory.

The Hunger Games is a challenging, thought-provoking thrill ride. A gripping, well-plotted novel that's nearly flawless in its execution, in its ability to draw you into its world, make you emotionally invested in the leads, and then make you question how you view this story, how many steps our own culture is from the world of the Games, because after all, haven't we been there before with Rome and her coliseum? Bring on the sequel!