Hunger Games: The ballad of songbirds and snakes

Years after reading the Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, I plunged back into this universe that I had loved so much a few years earlier, for the release of the new opus The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird. When I first watched the previous installments, I had already read the books, which was not the case this time. So, the moment I entered the movie theater, I knew nothing about the movie I was about to watch. The main thread quickly fell into place and I had no trouble immersing myself in the story.

This takes place around sixty years before Katniss’s arrival in the Hunger Games. The main character is none other than Coriolanus Snow, the president I remember hating in the novels. The Hunger Games were a little less watered down games at the time than in the future, because the fireworks and various animations which would subsequently be part of the show had not yet been put in place. Games no longer really captivate the public. To remedy this, the organizers at the time, Seneca Crane and Volumnia Gaul, decided to give each of the tributes a mentor. Their goal is to draw public attention to their protégé and possibly allow him to survive as long as possible in the arena. Coriolanus Snow is entrusted with Lucie Gray, a young woman from District 12 who is already making headlines from the moment her name is drawn. He then takes his role very seriously, to the point of proposing new ideas to the organizers in order to allow Lucie Gray to get through it. He will be ready to go very far to save her, even if it means suffering the consequences.

One thing is certain, this film allows us to understand all the staging that was made around the Hunger Games years later. In my opinion, this film is well worth seeing in the cinema. I found it as good as the previous films, if not better. The sets and costumes are incredible, as are the lead actors. Lucie Gray is played by Rachel Zegler, and it must be said that all the scenes in which she sings are very successful. Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, is faithful to the charisma, as well as the coldness that we find in his character sixty years later.

This cinematographic adaptation is relatively long, since the film lasts a little over 2h30 and yet, we don’t get bored: on the contrary, everything goes too quickly! The story is divided into three distinct parts, and moves at high speed. This arrangement is probably due to the format in which the book was written, as well as the desire to keep the story and its unfolding as intact as possible. However, I found that the scenes moved a little too quickly for my liking. Sometimes I had difficulty understanding the characters’ reactions and what had become of them. Did Clemensia die following the bite of Dr. Gaul’s snake? And above all, what happened to Lucie Gray after she fled into the forest? This story and these questions stayed in my head for a while. And from what I’ve seen, many are talking about it and making assumptions about what hasn’t been said.

My favorite parts of the film were those concerning the games, since that’s when we had the most action and unexpected scenes. On the other hand, I found the other moments of the film just as interesting. It feels good to find a beautiful universe like this on the big screen, because the original Hunger Games trilogy remains today one of the best I have ever read. I highly recommend watching this film, as well as the previous ones, obviously.