Coluna Claquete - March, 30th 2012

Movie of the Week: "The Hunger Games"

Repeating the success of Harry Potter and Twilight, a new series of books arrives in theaters, this time based on the trilogy of author Suzanne Collins. The film "The Hunger Games" faithfully follows the first volume, with the same title.

The original story follows the line of apocalyptic, and the action takes place in an indefinite future in a country called Panem, composed of twelve Districts and the Capital. At the beginning of the movie is explained that, in a previous time, the Districts rebelled against the Capital. The rebellion was brutally crushed, and the Districts are kept isolated, surrounded and controlled by the Capital, to whom they send their products and services.

Districts live in a permanent state of poverty, and its inhabitants survive as they can, based on products exchanges In one of these districts, apparently of coal miners', lives our heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).

Like most of her neighbors, Katniss never had an easy life, especially after his father's death in an explosion in the mine where he worked. With her mother in shock, fell to Katniss, herself a child, take care of the mother and her younger sister.

Always a fighter, Katniss has become an outstanding hunter with bow and arrow, hunting in the prohibited forests outside of District 12, where she lived. Her great friend and hunting companion, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), is the only one that understand her feelings, and there is a mutual attraction between the two.

Gale dreams of participating of the Hunger Games, a competition created by the central government which requires the participation of a teenage couple from each district. The choice is made in a kind of lottery of young people aged between 12 and 18 years.

The sinister detail of this competition is that everyone confronts each other - and only the last survivor is declared the winner. This reality show is followed with great attention by the districts, and lots of fun by the inhabitants of the Capital, which need not send any of their young.

This year is especially tense for Katniss, because it will be the first in which the name of her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), will participate. The draw is a big event, complete with brass bands and pictures on the screen.

When the name of Primrose is announced , Katniss becomes desperate, and she offers herself as a volunteer in place of her sister. As the rules allow it, the girl is selected, along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the boy was chosen between the men.

The 24 young people chosen are taken to the capital and presented to the general public with fanfare, in an atmosphere of openness of the World Soccer Cup. This phase of marketing is essential, because competitors need the help of sponsors that can send some resources needed during competition.

Each pair is assisted by a team of mentors, and in the case of Katniss and Peeta, their coach is a former champion of the Games, and the disillusioned and alcoholic Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), with the help of Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz).

When Katniss and Peeta begin training, they discover that some districts prepare their competitors from an early age. They arearrogant and unscrupulous young people, who will do everything to win the competition.

The Hunger Games are a great show, run by Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), which obeys the instructions of machiavellian President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and has the full support of the press, among which stands out the exotic Caesar showman Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). Any resemblance to our television is pure reality...

Like any reality show, the intimate revelations are also part of the show and the audience is delighted when Peeta reveals that the girl he is in love is Katniss, which eliminates any possibility of the two, since only one can survive.

When the time comes the competition, the competitors are placed in a closed environment, a forest, where they need to survive to hunger, diseases and cold, but, mainly to other opponents.

This issue has been extensively explored in other movies, with many variants, but what draws the most attention here is that the the most important are not the skills of the competitors, but their values, which will prevail, in the end.

Although many visual effects by computer, everything is used for the benefit of storytelling, not as the most important element. Although it has been softened in the aspect of violence, the film is faithful to the book - after all, the author herself participated in drafting the script.

What really supports the film, plus a cool story, is the acting of the cast, and both the young protagonists and the supporting characters do not disappoint. The beautiful Jennifer Lawrence confirms the talent already demonstrated when she lived Mystique in "X-Men First Class," while Josh Hutcherson lives an antihero that leaves the audience in doubt about his true intentions. Is also important to highlight the participation of Amandla Stenberg, a beautiful little girl who becomes the ally of Katniss during the Games.

But when the "Jurassic" actors come into play, they are unbeatable, even though with small and secondary roles. No comments about Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelsol gets better every work, and Stanely Tucci makes an exceptional performance as the official host of the event - even if it was difficult to recognize him with a pink wig, as we used to see him always bald .

"The Hunger Games" is a fun and exciting movie, directed mainly to a young audience, but that will please all lovers of action movies. The numbers at the box office will determine whether the sequences will be produced, but it is likely that this actually happens.

Original title: "The Hunger Games"