Review – The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Snowbirds and Snakes

Long before Coriolanus Snow became the president of Panem that we know and despise – he was an eager student, determined to help his family. The prequel by Hunger Games, directed by Francis Lawrence, tells the story of the upbringing of President Snow. The Antagonist of the franchise.

18-Year old Coriolanus (played by Tom Blyth) is different than the President Snow Katniss gets to know years later. He is young, curious and wants to study to make his grandmother and beloved cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer) proud. When he becomes the mentor during the tenth annual hunger games to the young Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler) from District 12, he sees the chance to help his family out. With that he also changes the future of the Hunger Games.

After the death of Coriolanus’ parents, the Snow family loses their fortune and wealth. Coriolanus lives with his Cousin Tigris and their Grandmother. The film dives quick into the Hunger Games we know. We get to know our 24 tributes. Each one of Coriolanus fellow students (and only the best ones were chosen for this) become mentors to a specific tribute. Just like the book, the film was divided into three parts: The Mentor, The Prize and The Peacekeeper.

Now this story is set 64 years before the story of the first Hunger Games film comes to place. The film is also being released 8 years after the first adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ beloved trilogy. Before I was seated for this, I asked myself the question if we really needed a prequel to a trilogy most of its viewers already enjoyed when they grew up. I truly wanted to let the Hunger Games franchise rest and didn’t think I really needed to see the prequel, but I was wrong and I had a really good time during this.

It does have a captivating premise in how it tells the story of a hopeful young man who lost all the wealth his family made and slowly becomes the tyrant of Panem.

Tom Blyth truly captures the character of Snow in the most perfect way. You barely notice how his character changes over the course of the film. I caught myself rooting for him in the beginning, since it centers his story from beginning to end. Step by step, we get to know what truly made him lose his empathy and turned him into the sociopath Katniss meets in the later movies. My favorite casting choice was probably Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul. We all know that woman can act, but she was the perfect addition to the Hunger Games series. The same thing goes to the brilliant Peter Dinklage.

Hunter Schafer didn’t have many scenes. But I adored the ones she was in. She truly has a very natural way to act and captures the viewers attention just by her amazing screen presence. I wish we knew more about Tigris Snow in this era.

Someone who truly shined was Rachel Zegler. Her singing voice is captivating and gave me goosebumps in certain scenes. The music in this film is generally beautiful. There is a part in which Zegler sings near the end of the Hunger Games, that I truly loved (but won’t spoil for you). Her character was very promising and I adored her through the first two parts of the film.

The last part of the movie was unfortunately very rushed. Zeglers character became more distant and less palpable than she was during the entire course of the film. The film in general didn’t need its 157 minutes. You can feel the pacing drag a little at some points. During the last part of the film I had many scenes where I expected a sudden cut – and these would’ve told the upbringing of Snow in the exact same way as it did half an hour later.

The place in which the Hunger Games took place looked similar to a huge gray Arena. Sadly it wasn’t cinematically interesting and exciting to look at. The Hunger Games trilogy truly used more exciting sceneries. We also don’t really get to know the tributes as intensely as we did in the other films. But honestly I didn’t really miss it, since this film was centering Snow and his influence on the Hunger Games and not the tributes in particular.

I am not a fan of prequels. They can be stressful cause they have a high potential in messing with an entire franchise and this one wanted to place its antagonist into the role of a protagonist. I have to admit it worked beautifully. I had a great time and it truly didn’t change the narrative of the later films. I left the film very curious and they created a very open world they could continue to play with. I am very excited to see where they go from here and even if they don’t – it was a great way to revisit a world many of us adored when we grew up.

-Rue.