The Hunger Games lives up to the hype. The story is riveting, the characters are interesting, and the end product is creatively put together. The Hunger Games is a captivating film that should not be missed.
As the film opens, Panem (a nation formed in modern-day North America) is about to hold its 74th Hunger Games. The Hunger Games were created as a yearly reminder of the terror created by a failed attempt to overthrow the Capital. Each year one male and one female tribute are selected from a pool of all 12 to 18 year-olds from each District to enter a fight to the death. Only one winner can emerge from each Hunger Game. The film follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) the female tribute from District 12 as she enters the Hunger Games. The film is based on the wildly popular book series by Suzanne Collins.
I preface my review by noting that I have read the books and I really enjoyed them, so I come in with unclean hands.
Often times, a film based on a book falls short of the source material. My feeling is that this shortcoming is typically the result of film being an improper medium to capture the complexity of a full book. Most books would be better served as television shows because there is more time to develop the characters and story. My view seems to be in the minority given the number of book-based films and the dearth of book-based television shows.
The Hunger Games is an exception. Not because the film is better than the book, but because the two so beautifully complement each other.
If you have not read the books I implore you to do so. They are not great works of literature, but they are enjoyable. As works of Young Adult Fiction (whatever that category may mean), the books use less-complicated language and contain limited description. Young Adult certainly does not mean the book is violence-free (there is plenty, although it is not gruesome) or without nudity (again, there is plenty). Nonetheless, the books are engrossing.
Plus, with the advent of e-readers you can even read the books without ever owning up to having done so. You can maintain the facade that you only have time for great works of fiction and the occasional musings of a film blog.
The principal difference between the book and the film is the focus of the narrative. Katniss tells a first person narrative in the book. Although Katniss remains the principle figure in the film, the story is not told from her perspective.
The end result is that the book provides insights into Katniss’s thoughts and emotions. We are transported with her. We examine her reactions and motivations. Her perceptions color the world we experience. The book does a great job of wrestling with some of the psychological concerns faced by Katniss. On the other hand, the book, as a first person narrative, inherently lacks a holistic perspective.
The film fills in these holes.
The 12 Districts are separated based on the resources they provide to Panem. District 12 provides coal. The film takes Collins’s basic description and transforms District 12 into a haunting depression-era Appalachian coal mining town. Katniss’s childhood home becomes a dilapidated cabin.
Director Gary Ross brings grittiness to District 12 beyond that imagined in the book. Everything from the manner of dress to the laborious speech is given a new, richer flavor. The scenes in District 12 all appear through a gray and dark yellow filter. They look and feel like old pictures yellowed by exposure and grayed by the accumulation of coal dust.
District 12 exists in sharp contrast to the Capital. A grand mixture of futuristic and Neoclassical architecture is packed into a lush and beautifully manicured landscape. Rather than wearing depression era rags, the inhabitants of the Capital are alive in vibrant color (enough color to make Joseph blush). While the District’s miners use the same pickaxes, helmets, and elevators of their forefathers, the Capital is filled with cutting edge technology. Ross’s vision is one of high contrast: the poverty and suffering of an impoverished District and the opulence and over-indulgence of a rich and gilded Capital.
The film does not have complete fidelity to the book. Certain characters are given more focus in the film and others are abandoned altogether. But the indignant ought to take pause, the screenplay was written by the author, along with Ross and Billy Ray. The book and the film are complementary. The two together allow for a fuller appreciation of the story. Each makes up for the deficiency of the other.
The acting is solid, and Lawrence’s performance is particularly commendable. Lawrence’s portrayal of Katniss as strong, but unsure, is spot-on. Whenever she is presented to the Capital there is an unease and perfectly awkward forced smiles. Lawrence is able to span Katniss’s emotions from rage to tenderness, but she best captures a raw feeling of determination in the face of hopelessness.
T-Bone Burnett and James Newton Howard composed a sad, yet mesmerizing soundtrack, which perfectly captures the mood of the film. Like ghosts from the Appalachians, they rise to meet the future and the resulting sound is both ancient and fresh. It sags with dystopian reality and springs with hope.
The visual and sound effects are also well executed. Clever camera work minimizes the gore while highlighting the inhumanity of the games. Hallucination and deafness are lived and not merely implied. These elements work to form a more immersive story.
The Hunger Games is a compelling film. It moves with great intensity and exposes a harsh reality. A film that has earned its hype.
PARSI VERDICT: A compelling and intense journey. A great compliment to the book. Get into the game.