Evasive but engaging adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2012)

I suddenly found myself reading The Hunger Games trilogy in preparation for the movie, mainly due to the allure of Jennifer Lawrence. Thankfully, it was a pretty fun read, even though the books are fairly derivative, at least in regard to their dystopian theme. It's the ambivalence of Katniss that drives the story forward and keeps it interesting, so to my mind this was one of the most important things to get right in the movie.
The universe of Panem, a land set in the future comprised of twelve districts and run by an authoritarian capitol, may seem a bit implausible in its literary portrayal, but the movie gets the tone and scope of the place just right. District Twelve is the home of our main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, a teenager charged with the responsibility of taking care of her mother and sister after the passing of her father in a mining accident. As if life weren't difficult enough on a day to day basis, every year the Capitol organizes "The Hunger Games", a duel to the death in which two tributes, a boy and a girl, are enlisted from each district to battle for survival. The event is supposed to serve as a reminder and punishment of the failed rebellion against the capital which took place 74 years prior. In an unfortunate turn of the odds, Katniss is forced to volunteer for her younger sister once she is selected for participation in the games, and together with Peeta Mellark, the male tribute of District Twelve, she heads off into the unknown and, most likely, towards her demise.
The key to understanding the event itself is that it represents a piece of entertainment, similar to the gladiator fights of Ancient Rome. As the participants are groomed for a televised show, the macabre concept behind the games may be easy to lose out of sight, and it is at this point that the direction of the film becomes a bit skewed and decides to evade/underplay one of the central plot lines in the book. In the transition from Katniss' literary narrative to the cinematic transposition, her struggle with herself and those around her, in particular Peeta, loses out. As the two tributes, under the guidance of their mentor, decide to play out a love story in order to endear themselves to the public, the film's focus shifts to the more easily translatable tension resulting from the potential love triangle between Peeta, Katniss and her childhood friend Gale (who remained in District Twelve), rather than focusing on the constant ambivalence in Katniss' soul. This is particularly interesting once it becomes evident that Peeta has truly been in love with her for many years, while the question of her own feelings towards him are shrouded behind the importance of self-preservation.
Therefore, it is a shame that the film's choice is to portray the situation as a love triangle, set to develop further in the upcoming sequels, rather than to investigate the implication of how Katniss feels at odds with her situation and the role she has to play, knowing that in the end there is only one survivor to The Hunger Games. It is understandable that due to the scope of the movie franchise this would be a bit harder to sell, but it undermines one of the most fascinating themes of the book, the journey of Katniss' self-discovery.
Implicitly, we get a fairly limited understanding of most characters and how they relate to one another. Despite this hindrance, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, who play Katniss and Peeta, manage to infuse a lot of what their characters are supposed to be into the final print of the movie, thereby conveying at least part of what is unwritten in the script and transpires from the books. Hopefully, the undertones of their relationship will be further expanded upon in the second movie, without focusing too much on the romantic dilemma, which serves as a backdrop in the books, rather than a driving force.
Also, what the movie managed to do quite well is create a fine rapport between President Snow, played with delightful and menacing restraint by Donald Sutherland, and the game-maker Seneca Crane. Their scenes shed some insight into the workings of the games which otherwise could have needed a rather tiresome narrative, while still defining two characters of interesting depth.
I can imagine some of the shortcomings mentioned are less evident to viewers who have not read the whole story, which leaves them with a pretty well rounded film about a cruel world that begs for many answers - but lacks a fair bit of heart. Seeing how difficult it is to rise up to the expectations of so many interested parties when producing a film like The Hunger Games, it is fair to say that the end result is a reasonably faithful and sensible adaptation of an engaging story. The politics behind Panem, which should feature more extensively in the second movie, will be a different challenge altogether, but the set-up for the sequel is solid and should offer a large enough scope to fulfill the vision of Suzanne Collins and her rather uncompromising characters.