The Hunger Game Movie Review

The Hunger Game is a film about different types of people and how they are divided among the poor and the rich. In the film, the people who are poor live in districts in what the film calls it Panem and the rich live in the capital of Panem. There are twelve districts in the world of Panem. In every district, the people have their own values and identity. The film is focused on a game where it seems that the lives of the poor do not matter to the rich. The film revolves around the poor people of Panem who are hungry. The rich have always been able to control countries. Money has always given people the power to govern certain place where poor people have no say in anything.

The focus of the film and book is food. Food is important for the people in Pamen and for those other counties that don’t have food. The people in the districts are starving. Just like many other countries that we see on television. The difference between Panem and other country is that Panem is being control by the rich on what they can eat and their social economics. Even the name of the place where all the people live is associated with food. In both film and the book the main character is about Katniss and her struggle to feed herself and her family. Katniss memories of Panem in the book was about a night when it was raining and for the first time she saw Peeta Mellark. According to Katniss she describes, “the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark and the bread that gave her hope.” (Collins, 2008, p.32) The feeling Katniss had when she received the bread was joy, because she had something to take home to feed her mother and sister. Bread is described in every district different because it is based on what is grown in that particular district. Bread is a survival food for those in the districts and for countries that are poor, bread is the easiest and cheapest food that the people can obtain for survival. Bread is also the cheapest way to survive hunger within each district. In the film, bread is seen but it is not common as it is written in the book.

Katniss belongs to district twelve, where most of the people are trained and educated to know about the Hunger Game and working at the mines. The book describes how Katniss her father showed her how to hunt. She felt grateful that her father showed her how to hunt, because this was the only way she can provide food for her family and be able to survive hunger. In the film, it shows her hunting before the game started. In every district, there are people who have children and every child who lives in the district must participates in the games. The age of the participant is from twelve to eighteen. Every district needs to send two people, a boy and a girl. In the film and book, when Katniss’ sister’s name is pulled Katniss looks in shock. She then quickly volunteers on behalf of her sister. She figures that she can do better than her sister, Prim, since she was taught by her father how to hunt and how to make arrows for a bow. In the film, the scene where she was on her way to the Capital, the train was full of food, whereas in the book Katniss is describing the smell and the taste of the food as she is eating it. Since Katniss did not have food to eat on a daily basis, her stomach was not used to eating everything that was given to her prior to the games. Katniss and Peeta ate, but Katniss describes in the book that she could not hold it down. It seems that in The Hunger Games the food was used like a leverage by the Capital because if they would be hungry, they could ask the people that were running the show to provide them with food in exchange for their name being put in the fish bowl multiple times. In the Capital there is a lot of food everywhere they look. Katniss describes juice as the most delicious thing that she has ever drunk, which made her think about her father at one point when she was drink orange juice, because he had brought home a drink that resembles the orange juice. Most of Katniss’ memories of food reminds her of her father and how he provided for the family and how he showed her how to survive.

During the game while they are fighting each other, Katniss is looking around to see what she can eat. She then sees the little girl from District eleven. District eleven’s specialty was agriculture and Rue had a lot of experience with plants and trees. Rue knew which plants and trees they could eat. They help eat other with the hunting. Rue’s knowledge and Katniss’ skill of hunting animals were a great way to stay alive in the game. Katniss sees Rue as her little sister, and she had becomes fond of her. During the game, Rue is killed. In the book, District eleven sends bread, which means a lot to Katniss. She was not sure if it was for her or Rue, but she still made an effort to show District eleven that she was very appreciative with the gift she received. She describes the bread being “sprinkle with seeds.” (Collins, 2008, p.239) then “lifts her face and steps into the last falling rays of sunlight” (Collins, 2008, S. p. 239) to acknowledge that she appreciates the gift they sent her. This is another moment that bread comes into the book and it seems that bread is valuable for those who do not have food every day.

In conclusion, The Hunger Game can be described as a game that favors the rich and gives a disadvantage to those who live in the districts Many of the districts only way of fighting hunger is by asking the people in charge for food and agreeing to add their name multiple times to the fish bowl so they are more likely to be picked for The Hunger Games. This is a game for the rich because they are able to control the economic level of poverty. The rich have always been able to control the different society base on education and money.

Reference:

Collins, S. (2008) The Hunger Games

Ross, G., Tucci, S., Bentley, W., Banks, E., Lawrence, J., Hemsworth, L., Collins, S., (2012). The Hunger Game. United States: Alliance Film.