As our present-day starts to feel more and more apocalyptic with the pandemic, climate change, murder hornets, and plants that cause third-degree burns and sometimes blindness, it is refreshing to escape into a fictional dystopia.
The Balled of Songbirds and Snakes tells the origin story of the infamous villain in the first Hunger Games books, Coriolanus Snow (played by Tom Blyth). Snow is nothing but a striver, networking, and brown-nosing with abandon. His family lost everything in the war except for their family name and reputation. Snow plans to redeem it with all of his achievements.
Starting the mentorship program will be the first step in a series of professional glories for him: he will guide his tribute to victory, be awarded a scholarship to study at the university, and then embark on a political career culminating in his presidency. He’ll restore honor to his family name.
To make people interested in watching and supporting the games, head game makers decide to have the most accomplished students mentor the tributes to put on a show in exchange for a prize.
A major hitch is put in Snow’s plans when he finds himself saddled with the girl from District Twelve as his tribute, Lucy Gray(played by Rachel Ziegler). She’s from the poorest district, and undernourished, which makes her unlikely to win. That means trouble for Snow.
Snow and Grey develop an unexpected relationship during their time prepping for the games. Snow wants to help her through this time. He treats her like a human, not just one of the tributes. His efforts, in the end, backfired.
The movie was created beautifully and followed the book’s plot.
We see the impact that evil choices have–both those made by the world around us and the selfish, foul choices that we make ourselves. As such, this prequel is much more focused on philosophy than on allegory.