The Hunger Games: Hungry for More?

There will be several impressions left once you finish watching this movie. First and foremost, this is not a family movie. Though those scenes are not really seen because the camera conveniently does not show them, to watch an adolescent killing another is definitely a no-no, at least for me.  This is a film for adolescents precisely, and adults, and as I said, there are no scenes including bloodshed, or sex or gory elements; but, the implicit violence and the reasons for it prevent this production from being something you would like to watch with your kids.
The story goes like this. At some point in the future, North America has become Panem, a  country that is made up by twelve very poor districts and a rich central sector called The Capitol. Once in the past of this country there were thirteen, not twelve districts, that rebelled against The Capitol resulting in a war that destroyed district 13 and the institution of the Hunger Games. The Games is an annual competition of sorts which obliges each of the twelve districts to send a boy and girl, age 12 -18, chosen at random to the Games which are in fact "survival" games. The participants are known as the Tributes and they all compete against one another meaning that they actually have to kill their rivals if they are not killed first by the rigors and threats hidden in The Arena, a dome-like place where the Tributes face each other in some virtual forest where the sky is actually an enormous TV screen that shows results of the competition.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrtence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) represent district 12, though Katniss volunteers to replace her little sister, who was chosen first, because she was too weak to survive. The movie shows how the competitors are prepared and the importance The Games has for this futuristic society since the victor will get as his or her ultimate prize, great fame and fortune. The film seems to be quite faithful to the book as it also becomes a criticism to our own hunger for entertainment and our blindness to the social problems that surround us. We are really like the citizens of The Capitol while everyone else is a citizen of any of the districts that provide for the sustainance of The Capitol in all forms.

It is obvious that this story takes from many diverse elements such as the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Also one question arises: why using teens in  the Games and not adults? That is perhaps the same question William Golding was asked after writing Lord of the Flies. In the end it is perhaps a way to respond to this trend of having young people starring love triangles such as in the Twilight saga (there is also one here). It should not be surprise. As mentioned before, this story draws from preexisting elements. This "there can be only one..." thing reminds me of Highlander, the whole TV show centered on what happens during the Games reminds me  of that movie The Truman Show. Are there no parallels with the Big Brother of 1984 or the underground society of Logan's Run?

The good thing is that as unrealistic and preposterous as its premise might be, The Hunger Games is a good movie with decent performances and one that promises much more. One other impression you are left with after watching the movie is precisely the desire to explore this odd future, to see what else is in this universe created around The Hunger Games. Just like in Lord of the Rings there is a history behind the story, one that deserves to be explored whether watching sequels or reading the two novels that tell the rest of the story that The Hunger Games began when it was first published back  in 2008.