The longer we live in a world of social media, the more the idea of a few people being thrown into an arena to fight for favor for the people they represent resonates. Regardless, if it’s been a while since you saw The Hunger Games (or if you’ve never seen it before), it’s worth knowing that it’s still a gripping action thriller suitable for most of the family, and it’s available on Netflix right now.
I expect you know the premise of The Hunger Games, but just in case: in a dystopian future, America is split into ‘districts’, ruled brutally, and kept poor by the wealth-sapping Capitol. To keep the districts in line and in opposition to each other, a yearly ‘Hunger Games’ is held, where two teenage representatives from every district are put into a huge arena and forced to fight to the death, until only one survives, and is declared the winner.
When Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) little sister is chosen for the games by random draw, she volunteers to fight instead. From there, she has to navigate the politics of the whole situation – by playing up for the crowds before the fight, no matter how furious she is with the situation, she can curry favor from crowds to get bonuses in the arena. Meanwhile, her fellow competitor from her district, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) confesses his feelings for her, but that may be just a game too. Life as a pawn in the scheme of a brutal dictatorship is complicated.
And that’s before we get to the arena, where the cruelty of the fighting begins. The movie pulls few punches here – but with the right approach, Katniss can actually stop the games from being used to divide the districts, and fire up the people.
Jennifer Lawrence is excellent, the action is great, the whole setup of the frustration of the ‘publicity’ before the games is compelling, and it only feels more pointed as time goes on. And you can pick up the rest of the saga among the new Netflix movies added recently.
