A good movie

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2013)

"The Hunger Games" By: Rebeca Gonzalez Few months ago, I watched the movie "The Hunger Games" directed by Gary Ross and based on a novel, with the same name, by Suzanne Collins. To start I would like to say that I am a huge fan of the book and therefore I would like to give out my opinion in regards of the things I liked about the movie and at the same time the things that I disliked about it. It is a movie that contains action, adventure and science fiction all at once, and due to that the audience can easily either feel a connection with the movie right away or simply don't like it at all. The movie is based on government's oppression towards the population. The movie takes place in the ruins of a nation known as Panem, a place once known as North America, where twelve districts are manipulated by a shining Capitol. Long ago, the districts waged war on the Capitol, showing their rebellious desperation towards their oppression, but they were defeated by the Capitol. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send as tribute, one girl and one boy to appear in an annual television event called "The Hunger Games", a fight to death on live television. Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen, (Jennifer Lawrence) who lives with her mother and sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. Even though the book and the movie present differences in regards of the cast, both main characters portray exactly what both author and director wanted. In one hand Katniss is presented as a simple girl that is trying to protect her family, which considers herself one of the rest, which in the other hand, Peeta struggles to get what he wants and at the same time try to fully represent his district. The main difference is that in the book, their situation, as teenagers that have to struggle with death and love is more precise and you know exactly each though they have, while in the movie, you as the audience, have to infer their feelings and try to keep up with their situation. Even though the main characters did a good job in portraying their role, other secondary actors didn't such as Effie Trinket, due to the fact that the audience can see how fake her character is, and at the same time how over reacting her expressions are. Every movie has its ups and downs and despite the fact that I enjoyed the movie, there are several things I didn't like and actually liked. One of the things that cached my attention the most was the colors they used in every scene. Every scene had a particular color, and that was used to demonstrate the feelings and situation each character was going through. In matter of fact, an example would be the costumes the Capitol residents used versus the color of costumes the district residents had. For example, the scene where Effie is about to pronounce the tributes, everybody is wearing neutral colors, such as white or gray, while she is wearing a striking purple. As I mentioned before, her fake expressions and striking colors were just elements the director used to emphasize all the attention on her and at the same time make her represent the wealthy class rather than the lower- oppressed class. In the contrary, one of the things that I disliked the most about the movie was that the director emphasized much more on details rather than major scenes. My point here is that the director rushed through the movie. The main objective of the movie should have been the one of giving relevance to the title, but instead more than half of the movie is based on teenagers being chosen to represent their district. The point here is that the interesting parts such as the teenagers struggling and fighting for survival was rushed, so the audience had no time to experiment their situation. The setting of the movie, especially the one in the woods was amazing. The setting helped the audience understand the difficulties the actors had and also revealed the qualities each had in the movie. One of the best scenes in the movie was when Katniss, still fighting for survival, demonstrated the authorities that they might have power, but she still has emotions and respect for the other districts, and no matter what they would do to her, she stood up and proved them wrong. The strong dispute between the rebellious populations towards the Capitol is what makes the movie interesting. The fact that they are fighting for survival, to cause joy to the wealthy ones, and the fact that they have to make choices in regards of their death, just to represent their district, are the main things that makes the audience like the movie, and actually connect with it. Sometimes the message is much more important than the image, as it can be seen in "The Hunger Games". The movie managed to show the audience that instead of fighting with authority, we have to work with it, because they are what sustains us and leads us to the future. I support the PG 13 rating the movie received, but I would rate this movie with an R. Even though the movie doesn't gloss over or sugarcoat anything for their audience, there is violence presented throughout. The movie deals with themes such as survival, oppression, governmental control, grief and resignation, so despite the fact that there is little graphical violence, there is no way a kid could understand the reality in which the actors are placed in and the strong criticism the movie is demonstrating. Rebeca Gonzalez, Costarican students in Lincoln school coursing junior year. Film appreciation assignment