The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2013)

When I went to the theater to watch the first Hunger Games movie, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think I was in the mindset similar to the one I was in when I went to see Twilight. I was in college and I went with a friend on opening night, standing in line forever with a bunch of teenage girls dressed in team Jacob or team Edward T-shirts with matching purses. I'd tried reading the books but couldn't finish the first one, yet I was drawn to the core of the story, like so many others. To have a desire, but unable to satisfy it, you circle round the object, follow it, smell it, fantasize about it, always burdened with the knowledge that if you were to give in to that desire you would destroy it. Throw in some sexy actors and shimmering diamond effects and you have created an army of loyal team Edward-ites. It was an entertaining movie, and infinitely more interesting than the books.
I was in a similar situation with The Hunger Games. I'd read the first two books, enjoyed the first, lost interest in the second, and didn't even finish the third. But the core of the story was intoxicating, and also very familiar as I'd already been a long time fan of Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale from the year 2000. I was not prepared, however, for the emotional roller coaster I experienced.
Like Jude Law's character in The Holiday, I am "a weeper." I am moved to tears all the time listening to music and watching movies, and of course I love it. But I was taken aback when I watched the scene from the first Hunger Games movie when Katniss mourns over the dead body of Prim on the battle field. She adorns Prim with flowers and there is a cut to Prim's district where the people watch in horror at the death of this child...and then I began to seriously sob. I can honestly say that I have never had this reaction watching a movie before. I've cried streams of tears before, but I suddenly found myself in this theater putting serious effort into controlling myself from sobbing out loud. And another thing...I wasn't the only one! I could hear a few other girls in the theater, one a couple of rows back and another sitting near the front row. All of us in an awkward state of remorse, embarrassment, and all of us, I think, surprised at being in that position. It haunted me for days afterward as I thought very hard about what it was, exactly, that affected me so. Obviously the subject matter of the film itself was very moving, but after seeing Catching Fire, and experiencing nearly the same thing as Katniss delivers an impromptu speech in front of Prim's family and a mass of people from her district, I realized that the effect was prompted by two very important things. Things that any drama strives for, and which I believe coalesced to full capacity with these films.
For years the districts of this earth have followed along the lines of what is expected according to a system in which they've had no say, with no one even daring to stand up to it. The epic event of Katniss Everdeen showing her emotion through placing flowers and crying over Prim's body is at once an action of defiance, and also the shouldering of the entire country's silent rage and overwhelming guilt finally brought to the fore. It is the weight of not just one person but of thousands who come together in a span of a few minutes as something is stirred and awakened inside them. It is a giant tsunami of a realization that crashes through the sheen and illusion of stability and leaves in its wake the dead body of an innocent child. Like Sonmi 451 in Cloud Atlas as she awakens and witnesses the lie that hides the destruction of her own kind behind a promise of new life, or the discovery of the zombie-like underground workers by the privileged Gustav Fröhlich in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the weight of a thousand heavy hearts is more than enough to move the viewer to tears. Katniss is a representative in those moments of a thousand hearts and minds which move instantly through love, sadness, then pure rage.
Moving past these scenes, the films hold countless moments of breath-taking visual shots that achieve incredible effect because they are built up to, like the pulsing and building of chords in a song that prepares you for the explosion of chorus. These moments are paced well with the key points of the story itself and each one creates a statement of purpose which is strengthened and built upon by the previous one. There is a balance of intimate scenes with large, sweeping shots which serves to orient the viewer and give perspective that allows the viewer to both identify with the mind of a single protagonist and also to ride the awesome shows of spectacle. Throw in an engaging triangle of love that begets friction and jealousy and you have one hell of a fun movie.
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