The Hunger Games series has forever been a source of nostalgia for me, the highlight of my middle school years. Making my way into the IMAX theater, with an enormous 76 foot screen, in the winter of 2023 to see the new and exciting prequel to The Hunger Games movie series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I once again became immersed into the complex and corrupt society of Panem. It felt like stepping into my past, only a slightly darker, increasingly morally gray, and surprisingly musical version of it.

The film follows the young Coriolanus Snow’s path to becoming the evil tyrant president as he is shown in the original movies. His journey starts as an impoverished (due to the war that spawned the infamous games) pupil at the Capitol’s Academy, while living with his cousin, Tigris, and their grandmother. With money on his mind, he plans to win the Plinth prize for excellent academic performance. This award would provide him with the funds needed to continue his education and also support his family. He is shown to be hungry for the same power and wealth of his peers, while fighting desperately to keep up the illusion of the upper class citizen he would have been without the war. 

At first, the extent of his character flaws, besides the excessive amount of hair product needed to keep his roguish curls in check, appear to be a bit of narcissism and a major superiority complex. However, throughout the movie, young Snow is shown to be capable of betraying friendships and sacrificing loved ones for his own self-preservation. Enter the metaphorical songbird, Lucy Gray Baird. 

Snow first meets the beguiling young Lucy Gray when he is roped into becoming her mentor in the 10th annual Hunger Games, the first games where the tributes receive assigned mentors. He is informed that mentoring is a new requirement of obtaining the Plinth prize, forcing him to get to know his tribute for his own selfish gains. However, the more Snow learns about his tribute, the more he comes to realize that they are not so different after all. The two are shown to build a trusting relationship through a series of events that result in the need to save each other's lives. They eventually fall in love, which puts Snow’s ability to put others before him to the test. Proving unsuccessful, the relationship takes a sinister turn when Snow decides to cross the line into evil and lie about his decisions to regain his place in the Capitol’s bourgeois society. 

While the original set of films focused primarily on the fight to the death taking place in an actual arena, the Games, as seen through Lucy Gray’s eyes, take up less than half of this film’s screen time. Instead, the movie spends most of its time contrasting the class and wealth of the Capitol with the exuberant and boisterous life of Lucy’s District 12. Through focusing on characters such as Snow’s classmates, who are all wealthy and show little to no remorse on the prospect of the Games, and highlighting the sincerity and altruism of characters, such as Lucy Gray, viewers get to immerse themselves in both worlds. Set designers exhibited their immense creativity, less so in the standard stadium-like arena, but within the walls of the Academy and the slums within District 12. 

My favorite scenes come from within the dimly-lit, rowdy tavern Lucy Gray performs her songs in, because it introduces a new element to the franchise told through a more musical way, other than through the dramatic speeches given by the young Katniss Everdeen. While music always played a small part in the franchise, as seen when Jennifer Lawrence sang a few select, but heartfelt songs in the original films, Rachel Zegler tells her story and the story of her people in District 12 almost entirely through music, with some fan-favorites, such as “The Hanging Tree,” but also with new buoyant songs, such as “Nothing You Can Take From Me.”

I suppose it is only fitting that the ignition to our newly understood Snow’s reign of terror and destruction all started with a tragic love story (because of course it does, we are talking about YA fiction afterall) and ends with the great love between Katniss and Peeta, 65 years later. 

The protagonists are played by Tom Blyth as President Coriolonius Snow, known for his role in the television series, Billy the Kid, and his upcoming film based on Hemmingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, and Rachel Zegler from West Side Story as Lucy Gray Baird. Other recognizable names include actor Peter Dinklage and actress Viola Davis. 

While the Jennifer Lawrence version of the Hunger Games will always occupy a special place in my heart, Tom Blythe’s stunning portrayal, of what once seemed like a straightforward, prototypical villain, convinced me that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is my new favorite movie of the series, if not of all time. Determine for yourself which Hunger Games movie is your favorite and get the newly released DVD of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Enjoy the show and may the odds be forever in your favor!