“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”
A villain is born
Rachel Zegler (l.) succeeds Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”.
© Leonine/Lionsgate
A new “Hunger Games” film will be released in cinemas on November 16th. Is “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” convincing?
It has now been exactly eight years since Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence (33) last appeared as the intrepid heroine Katniss Everdeen in a “Hunger Games” film thrilled the masses. The previous four entries in the “Hunger Games” film series grossed the seemingly unbelievable sum of almost three billion US dollars at the worldwide box office. But in the new part “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, which tells a prequel to Katniss’ adventures, is a lot different than what we’ve seen before.
The Hunger Games are not yet a spectacle
“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” takes place around 60 years before the known events. A young woman from the 12th District is chosen – like Katniss Everdeen later – to take part in the 10th Hunger Games. Lucy Gray Baird, who is portrayed by “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler (22), is very different from the formidable survivor Katniss: She is a singer, not a fighter, and comes from a traveling tribe of jugglers and artists.
When she is forced to take part in the deadly gladiatorial games during the so-called harvest ceremony, the rebellious Lucy sings a song to the television viewers and her popularity ratings, which are so important for the Hunger Games media spectacle, rise.
However, the games themselves in the fifth “Hunger” film are not the later, breathtaking show in a technically sophisticated arena in which the players are pitted against one another using numerous devices. Rather, the Hunger Games in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” take place in a simple stadium and are intended to serve as pure punishment for the districts. However, as the film progresses, two characters will change the dynamics of the competition forever.
In addition to the performer Lucy Gray Baird, this is the later President of Panem Coriolanus Snow. In the films with Jennifer Lawrence, veteran star Donald Sutherland (88) breathed life into the diabolical character in an unforgettable way. Relative acting newcomer Tom Blyth (28) now takes on the role in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”. His younger Snow, who is still at the beginning of his adult life, is affectionately called “Corio” by friends and relatives, and does not have an easy life, even though he comes from a privileged background. Because his family has fallen out of favor in Panem, is broke, and doesn’t even have enough to eat, even though they are among the absolute elite of the Capitol.
The Hunger Games are supposed to be the turning point for Snow. But when Lucy Gray Baird is assigned to him as a protégé, “Corio” is initially horrified because he considers her to be one of the weakest participants in the arena fight.
Out of sheer desperation and a good deal of self-interest, he decides to help the young woman win the upcoming Hunger Games – and they both realize that a captivating show is at least as important for the television audience as the fighting skills of a tribute. Later, a tender love story develops between the two very different characters.
A superfluous backstory?
It’s clear that no expense or effort was spared in the new “Hunger Games” film “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Once again, a novel by the acclaimed author Suzanne Collins (61) serves as a template. The budget of a reported 100 million US dollars flowed, among other things, into the superb cast around the already mentioned main actors, “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage (54), Oscar winner Viola Davis (58) and those from the series sensation “Euphoria” well-known Hunter Schafer (24).
The work was largely created in the federal capital Berlin, with the Olympic Stadium, built during the Nazi era, and Strausberger Platz, built at the beginning of the GDR, in the heart of the former East Berlin serving as a harmonious backdrop for the dystopian, fascist Capitol of Panem.
In addition, not only director Francis Lawrence (52), who had previously directed three of the four remaining “Panem” films, has returned for “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, but also the creative minds from the areas of costume design, camera and music. The look of the new “Panem” film is therefore unsurprisingly convincing in all respects, and leading actress Zegler is also quite impressive as Katniss’s successor, who is more inclined towards the fine arts but less warlike.
The main character in the new “Panem” film, however, is the later extremely evil dictator Coriolanus Snow. In a sense, his origin story is told here, with “Corio” developing from an ambivalent character into a villain over the course of the plot. Such an internally torn main character always offers plenty of material for an exciting story, but because the end of the plot has already been determined by the previously released films, which take place chronologically later, the film finale comes across as a little lacking in tension.
And the Hunger Games as such, which are too rudimentary and reduced to the absolute essentials, are significantly less captivating in the new “Panem” film than in the previous works “The Hunger Games – The Hunger Games” (2012) or “Catching Fire” (2013). “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is therefore more recommended for die-hard fans of the book and film series. It seems questionable whether a completely new audience can be attracted to the cinemas.