a big metaphor

Rating: 8/10 (15 October 2013)

This is a distressing movie to watch. 24 handsome randomly picked teenage couples are forced to fight to the death until only one survives in a state sponsored spectacle. Only one of the 24 actually relishes killing off the others. The rest do it just to save their skins.
The society that arranges this is technologically advanced, decadent, highly artificial, somewhat reminiscent of the foppishness of the court of King Louis VI. This is indicated with impractical clothing, overly elaborate shellacked hair styles and extreme makeup with strange colours.
I kept wondering if the players would subvert the game, and refuse to play. But they were just randomly chosen teenagers, not heroic societal architects, who after a bit of flirtation with rebellion, did just what their handlers asked of them. Quite a downer ending.
The movie can be taken as a metaphor for war, where people who have no grudge against each other are conscripted to kill each other.
The movie can also be taken as a metaphor for show business, with the cut-throat competition, the sponsors and the way everything is faked, and the way those in control use people as toys to provide entertainment, and their complete lack of compassion, honesty and fair play.