Story
In the Dark Days, 3 years before the first annual Hunger Games begins, a young Coriolanus Snow and his cousin scrounge for food on the dangerous, war-torn streets of The Capitol. Following the death of his father, Coriolanus and his family are left with nothing and must do all they can to continue passing in high society.
As he grows into a young man, Coriolanus (Tom Blythe) is at the top of his class at the Academy and has distinguished himself in every way possible, despite the consistent efforts of the headmaster (Peter Dinklage) to derail his accomplishments. During the very ceremony in which Coriolanus is meant to receive a coveted scholarship and much needed funding, an announcement is made that changes everything.
People have stopped watching the Hunger Games, but the Gamemaker (Viola Davis) is determined that ‘the show’ must go on. So, for the first time in the 10-year history of the Hunger Games, there will be mentors. Each member of the Academy’s graduating class is assigned a ‘tribute’ from one of the 12 districts. The mentors must present their tribute to the world, make the audience care about them and ensure that the masses will, once again, watch as the 24 tributes (2 children from each district) fight to the death.
In a last effort to sabotage Coriolanus, the headmaster matches him with the petite female tribute from District 12, a kind-hearted outcast called Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). Lucy Gray knows she can’t win but has no intention of going quietly. She has a beautiful voice and uses the power of song to share her truth – a truth that many, even in The Capitol, can relate to. Because Lucy’s fate is tied to his own success, Coriolanus does everything he can to help her, and she slowly begins to trust him. Lucy’s courage and charm, along with the fact that she saves his life, brings out the best in Coriolanus. He does everything he can to keep her safe while maintaining a facade to protect his family and friends.
Lucy wins the games because of the help she receives from Coriolanus and because her bravery and defiance inspire the spectators. She is sent back to District 12, while Coriolanus is banished for cheating.
As Coriolanus rises up the ranks as a peacekeeper, he does whatever it takes to succeed and get back into the good graces of Capitol society. When his best friend, who wants only to make a difference, gets involved with rebel forces, Coriolanus betrays him. In the process, Coriolanus loses the one thing he was willing to risk it all for.
Themes
Poverty; governmental control; death; cruelty to children; betrayal; power; politics and insatiable ambition
Violence
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has some violence. For example:
- A man cuts the leg off the dead body of a person who has frozen to death in the streets.
- Coriolanus’s father is killed by a trap in the forest in District 12.
- A bat bites a tribute. The bite develops into an open sore that becomes infected. This causes the tribute to attack others.
- A group of tributes prepares to kill Coriolanus until Lucy says something to stop them.
- After being antagonised by a Capitol girl, a tribute smashes a glass bottle and jabs the jagged end through the girl’s throat. She bleeds out on the ground in front of everyone.
- Coriolanus is told that he must ‘use her [Lucy] or else he will end up dead in the trees like his father’.
- A character must put her hand into an enormous container filled with writhing, poisonous snakes. The snakes attack her hand, biting her. She falls backwards onto the floor, unconscious with potentially fatal wounds.
- Massive explosions rock an arena and its roof collapses around the tributes and their mentors. A piece of falling debris pins Coriolanus to the ground.
- Peacekeepers and guards shoot at tributes, who try to escape.
- A rat vomits up poison and blood.
- Tributes are told to stand on their marks, or they’ll be shot.
- A tribute who has tried to escape is suspended in the arena. His battered body is displayed for all to see.
- Tributes fight, stab and bludgeon each other to death, often with swords or spears.
- A character gets a pitchfork shoved through his neck.
- A character chases others with an axe.
- A character is sliced and stabbed as they try to drag themselves through a door.
- A drone crashes into someone and smashes a bottle of water meant for a tribute.
- Vultures fly down into the arena and begin to pick at and eat a boy’s body.
- A character threatens to cut out someone’s tongue.
- A character chases others while brandishing a sword.
- Coriolanus is sliced in the shoulder with a sword and is told that ‘the songbird is next on my list’.
- Coriolanus bashes another character to death.
- A character foams at the mouth and chases Lucy, clearly intent on killing her. She runs out into the arena to escape him and is nearly cornered and caught when Coriolanus sends drones to crash into him. They knock him off balance, and he falls onto rocks below the ledge where he was chasing Lucy.
- A team of tributes uses knives to try to kill a girl. The tributes ultimately stab the girl in the back with a pitchfork and then through the stomach. She falls backwards off a wall and lands near the body of another boy.
- Lucy Gray slams a girl’s hand in a gate door while tributes try to stab her with a pitchfork.
- Lucy poisons water, and a girl dies from drinking it.
- A girl stabs a boy through the chest.
- Characters try to stab Lucy by pushing spears through a vent where she’s hiding.
- Thousands of poisonous snakes attack the tributes. The snakes seek out and destroy the tributes. The snakes bite, strangle and cover the tributes with their twisting, slithering bodies.
- A rebel kills a peacekeeper.
- A man hangs while a woman screams that he’s innocent. In the moments before he dies, he cries out for her to run. The air is filled with the piercing cries of mockingjays mimicking the woman’s horrified screams and the man’s desperate shouts.
- A man shoves a woman in the chest.
- Coriolanus punches a man, and a bar fight ensues.
- Two characters are shot and killed.
- Three men are simultaneously hung. Mockingjays mimic their desperate screams, and the sound fills the air.
- A snake attacks and bites Coriolanus.
- Coriolanus shoots at Lucy. When he appears to miss her, he shoots at the mockingjays in the trees, and they fall out of the sky while he screams.
- A character expresses extreme regret for his role in originating the Hunger Games, which means that he now has the blood of countless generations on his hands.
Sexual references
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has some sexual references. For example, Lucy Gray’s boyfriend back home cheats on her with the mayor’s daughter.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows some use of substances. For example:
- The headmaster drinks repeatedly from a hip flask.
- Characters drink in taverns and at a reception.
- Lucy Gray admits to a crowd that she gave up drinking when she was 12.
- A character uses morphling (morphine).
- A character takes what he believes to be morphling, but it’s poison and he dies.
Nudity and sexual activity
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Coriolanus and Lucy share some tender moments and eventually kiss.
- Coriolanus is sometimes shown with his shirt off as he’s coming out of the shower or being stitched up.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Coarse language
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has some mild coarse language, including ‘kiss my ass’ and ‘savages’ (used as an insult).
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a dramatic adventure based on the prequel to The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. The movie features a diverse cast and some excellent special effects, but it lacks some of the heart of the original stories. It’s best suited to teenage and adult audiences and likely to be enjoyed by fans of the series.
These are the main messages from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes:
- Trust is more important than love.
- Even in the most challenging of circumstances, you can stay true to yourself.
- Sometimes the things we love most can destroy us.
Values in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that you could reinforce with your children include courage, resilience, ingenuity, compassion and self-reliance.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the consequences of real-life issues like:
- claiming what isn’t rightfully yours
- pretending to be something that you’re not
- putting ambition before friendship, loyalty or love
- using violence to punish violence.