dystopian Olympics

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2013)

What "The Hunger Games" depicts is so realistic that the movie itself seems redundant: a society divided between the haves and have-nots, a major event to pacify the masses, and violence used as entertainment (with people desensitized to the inhumanity therein). It reminded me of Norman Jewison's "Rollerball", which also depicts an ultra-violent sport that constitutes the entertainment in a totalitarian future.
The movie itself isn't any kind of masterpiece, but it should force the viewer to stop and think for a minute. Much like Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", it poses the question of how any society came to be what it is: everything may look fine and dandy, but how authentic is it?
I had never heard of the series until the first movie came out (and that weekend I went to see the Polish movie "In Darkness"). Now that I've seen it, I can solemnly recommend it.