Addressing concerns of violence, and Battle Royale.

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2012)

Addressing the concerns of violence in The Hunger Games movie: The acts of compassion outshine the acts of violence. Also, the message of persevering through something so tragic, and being the spark of hope that eventually surpasses fear, is a great message for kids -- as well as, good verses evil. If you talk to your children about life and how cruel people can be, and to try and be a good role model for compassion, they will understand this movie. As the old cliché goes "the book is better than the movie." -- not so in all cases, but in this, it's true. I have to say, they did a good job with this one -- being that it was written in a first person narration, it was pretty close to the novel, and truly captured the essence of the tragic tale. As usual, with every novel that has been adapted into a screenplay, there will be some changes and some things left out in the making of the film. But, overall I was pleased with this movie. Before anyone critiques it, they should see it, as well as read the books. This movie has been criticized for its violent content -- but, kids today are actually exposed to much worse through TV, movies, video games, music, etc...as well as the DAMAGING doses of sex being slipped into every form of entertainment we're exposed to in our society. We should educate our children with the knowledge of how blessed they are to be living in a free nation such as ours -- instead of places like the Sudan, where people are suppressed, terrorized, starved, and slaughtered, everyday. There is a huge difference in trying to keep your child's innocence intact, compared with keeping them naive to the cruelties of mankind. Also, if you've ever read the famous works of The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and other greats, you'll know that many stories written have exposed children to such good and evil of this world...providing many with a moral to the story. Movies such as Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc...have their share of battles that contain a measure of violence as well -- as so with The Hunger Games, they too, were forced to fight what was evil. I believe, if at all possible, in taking the negative and turning into a positive. The heroin in this story, was able to do that -- as she's a much better role model than most kids have on TV.
Also, there are those who're comparing The Hunger Games to a 1999 Japanese novel, Battle Royale. Both novels are great reads in their own right -- don't knock either one of them until you read them both. The stories are completely different as with the characters. The only similarity is the tragic tale of kids being forced to fight to the death with only one survivor aloud to live -- all for the totalitarian purpose of terrorizing and suppressing the nation's populous with its life threatening methods of control, fear-mongering, and propaganda. In Battle Royale: The kids are all of the same age (9Th grade), they are gassed on a bus during a school field trip, kidnapped, and then taken to an island "School" as part of a military research project called the "Program". These students, from a single class, are isolated and are required to fight the other members from their class to the death, allowing only one survivor to live. In The Hunger Games: The Dictator, President Snow, demands a National "Reaping" of two kids, one boy and one girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, taken from their home districts to the Capital and calling them "Tributes", then forcing them to fight to the death in an unknown arena with only one survivor aloud to live. Two completely different plots, but two very good reads. I could go further into detail about each book, but I'm sure you get the gist of it. I highly recommend that both are read with an open mind, especially for those who are so critical without reading them first.