The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Is The Biggest Surprise Of The Year!
Before Katniss Everdeen, there was Lucy Gray Baird.
Set 64 years before The Hunger Games we all know, a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is struggling to upkeep his family lineage in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. When he’s assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) from District 12 in the 10th annual Hunger Games, their fateful meeting sets him on his path to becoming the tyrannical president of Panem.
Based on the 2020 novel by Suzanne Collins and with Francis Lawrence in the director’s seat again, we are swept back into a more brutal and poorer version of Panem than we’ve seen before. The film starts out with a look at Coriolanus and his cousin Tigris as children in the dark days before the Hunger Games and how desperate people were to survive. Thirteen years later, following his fathers death in the First Rebellion against the Capitol, Snow is a student with aims to restore his family’s wealth and power. That includes helping the 10th annual Hunger Games success so he can win a scholarship and continue working towards becoming President.
While the Dean of the Academy and creator of the games Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) isn’t a fan of Snow because of his father, gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) is intrigued by his ideas for the Hunger Games. In fact, it’s thanks to Snow that viewership rises and the games begin to elevate to the glamorous reality show of a battle royale we know them as decades later. While Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are given training, wardrobe, and press training teams 64 years later, Lucy Gray and the other Tributes are locked in a human zoo with no food or real preparation until the games begin. It’s pretty bleak. With Snow suggesting the Capitol viewer get to know the Tributes and offer sponsorships as a way to have them watch and root for them, it helps him both get ahead and gain Lucy Gray’s trust.
Tom Blyth is a revelation as the complex young Coriolanus Snow, delivering one of the best performances of the year. He starts out hesitant and even compassionate as he does everything he can to try to help Lucy Gray in the games, even if that means cheating. The trust they develop is central to the film, especially the way, despite love, that trust breaks. Through his journey we see his struggle to balance his feelings for Lucy with his ambitions for himself and his family until he ultimately becomes so paranoid that he does the unthinkable. It is a captivating transformation that reinvigorated my excitement for The Hunger Games as a franchise. While the third act does feel a bit jarring — almost like a different movie from the first two — it allows Blyth to go down a terrifying spiral that shows off his chops even further.
Rachel Zegler holds her own as the free-spirited Lucy Gray Baird. Her live bluegrass vocal performance are next level. She is the polar opposite of Katniss as a performer who must fight, while Katniss is a fighter who must learn to perform in The Hunger Games, but her mere presence is a vessel for future change. Viola Davis brings a mad scientist energy to her role as Snow’s mentor Gaul, while Peter Dinklage feels underused. Jason Schwartzman is the perfect start to the showy Flickerman lineage and Hunter Schafer brings a warmth to the film as Snow’s cousin Tigris. Unfortunately, the other mentors and Tributes don’t get enough time on screen to really make an impact.
The film really shines in its the connections back to the original franchise that make certain moments have even deeper meaning. We see Lucy Gray write “The Hanging Song” that served as a symbol of rebellion for Katniss in the future and even introduce Snow to mockingjay birds. Even something as simple as Lucy Gray telling Snow that she’s leaving the cabin to “bring back Katniss,” or potato plants, is a targeted bullet of a line. With Lucy Gray’s fate in the air, it brings a frustrating but compelling mystery to the forefront. What really happened that fateful day between Snow and Lucy? All of this brings an added depth to Donald Sutherland’s Snow in the other films.
All in all, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the biggest surprise of the year, delivering an enthralling prequel to the world of The Hunger Games. It introduces Tom Blyth in a star-making performance, while elevating important pieces of The Hunger Games lore to new heights.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is playing in theaters.
