Lionsgate // PG-13
142 mins
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh
Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Lenny
Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, and dozens of young actors who get killed
midway through the movie
Unappetizing
Fare
The Hunger Games
is a dystopian film in which young Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer
Lawrence) volunteers to take part in the dystopian Hunger Games,
wherein twenty-four dystopian youngsters compete to the death for the
right, I suppose, to say that he or she won the Hunger Games. It
isn't made clear what the great prize is at the end of the homicidal
rainbow, or why the oppressed, dystopian people of the dystopian
districts of dystopian nation of Panem (of which there are twelve -
Katniss hails from the twelfth) should submit to this squalid,
dystopian gladiatorial contest for the amusement of the dystopian,
decadent Capitol.
All of this is
occurring in what is apparently a dystopian future America, in which
the outlying districts send resources to Capitol, which is something
of a dystopian D.C. crossed with Thunderdome. The dystopian
"citizens" of Capitol, if they can be graced with the
dignity of such a term, are a wretched bunch (and look as if they
have are refugees from pre-revolutionary France dressed in an unholy
combination of Hot Topic and 1980's Benetton clothing) cheering and
squealing in delight at the dystopian murder games played out for
their dystopian entertainment.
That a lot of
dystopianism to ingest. Wow, this film is bleak. What am I to make
of it? Is it an anti-capitalist critique of modern capitalism for
the 99%? A parable for the age of reality television? A love
story? It is a mixture of all of those things.
Katniss and her fellow
male district "tribute," Peeta Mellark, are sent from their
drab, 1930's Depression-style community in District 12 to the bright
and shining Capitol to train (in a mere four days) to fight the
twenty-two other selectees, as well as, ultimately, each other, in a
high-tech outdoor stadium, watched all along by the millions of
denizens of this bizarre nation. A nice touch is that real color
invades the screen only when Katniss departs her gray district town
for Capitol, a nod to Dorothy's wondrous entrance to the Land of Oz,
but in this case, something far more sinister.
The youngsters are
trained by Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and their look spruced up by
Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), who despite being relatively sympathetic
characters, nevertheless do not challenge the basic premise of the
Hunger Games, which is that they are revoltingly immoral contests.
Perhaps they feel that they can't, that they are powerless to alter
the Hunger Games, a blood sport whose only purpose, it seems, is to
remind the people of future America not to get uppity and rebel.
I have not read the
books. Now, after watching this movie, I don't want to. I can't say
that the books are bad, but The Hunger Games did not resonate
with me. I found the premise of two dozen kids killing each other
for the amusement of the crowd to be disturbing, and I am not
squeamish. I could stomach Gladiator very well, but that was a far
different film. Also, it is not that The Hunger Games was
especially bloody. That element was rather limited. No, the premise
of the film is not something that I care for - at all.
There were several
times during the course of The Hunger Games that I just wished
it would end. It is a very good film, just not one that I enjoyed.
That may seem contradictory, but it isn't. I can recognize the
quality of the moviemaking. Director Gary Ross has done a fine job
and Jennifer Lawrence is a splendid actress. Dystopianism is not for
me. I think that in order to really like a science fiction movie or
novel, I have to want to "visit" the imaginary world in
which it is set. I would like to visit Middle-earth, Narnia, the
Federation from Star Trek, or even the Galactic Empire from Star Wars
(just for a short spell) but I don't have any desire to visit the
depressing, frightful Panem with its sordid Hunger Games.
Marc
