Well, at least The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) is not about teenagers murdering one another for the sport of rich people.  This time, it is about fighting the oppression of an autocratic government run by a sadistic individual, President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland).  I am not talking about our current president, though it is worth noting that recently Pope Leo XIV indirectly spoke out against heads of states initiating wars.  Words like the message of our Holy Father and what you see in today’s film are why governments like Thailand in 2014 attempted to ban it because of the three-finger gesture of resistance by the title character, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).  I applaud and pray for anyone with that kind of bravery, but much less so for the movie.

Applause is far from the mind of Katniss as we begin The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, henceforth Mockingjay – Part 1.  She is having nightmares based on her experience surviving the last title contest in the previous film.  She awakens in District 13, a part of Panem previously thought to have been completely destroyed in whatever civil war occurred unseen seventy-five years ago.  Tangentially, this is the first time in the series I remember hearing this nation given a name.  It is District 13 where the rebellion against President Snow’s regime is coalescing.  These matters are secondary for Katniss, whose main concern is the fact that her close friend (boyfriend? fiancé? lover?), Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), along with other competitors, has been captured by capital forces.  She blames rebel leadership for leaving them behind, “them” being former Hunger Games producer Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the president of District 13, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), and Katniss’ two-time competition coach Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson).  Haymitch, along her longtime friend (boyfriend? lover?) Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), are the ones who attempt to calm down Katniss.  Those in command of the growing revolt need her to be the Mockingjay, the person around which discontent has coalesced.  At first she is unwilling to do so, making President Coin doubt Katniss is the right person.  Plutarch pushes back, saying the Katniss needs the right motivation.  That comes in the form of a visit to her former home in District 12.  While Katniss had been bringing down the games, the capital reacted by leveling recalcitrant areas.  Hundreds died, their charred bodies the only witness to the oppression.  Seeing the destruction has the desired effect, but she has some demands, namely that a rescue attempt be made to retrieve Peeta and the others.  In exchange, she will become the face of resistance they are seeking.  Doing so involves filming messages of support for the cause and visiting other areas that are part of the uprising to boost morale.  The capital learns of one of these excursions and President Snow makes an example, bombing a hospital full of wounded of all ages.  In the midst of burning rubble, she films her own words for him.  However, they are mitigated by the fact that Peeta is appearing on capitol television seemingly trying to get the rebels to stop fighting.  The clips are taken as a sign of betrayal, but Katniss sees a tortured soul who is likely being coerced into saying these things.  To counteract Peeta’s propaganda, the decision is made to get footage the devastation of District 12.  While there, Katniss is unable to speak, so Gale gives his eyewitness account.  Instead, Katniss sings a haunting song that captures the spirit of the times and furthers the discontent in various areas.  The capital’s response is to bomb District 13.  In the moments leading up to the strike, Peeta warns of the approaching aircraft, which gives them enough time to get everyone to safety deeper underground.  The corresponding move is for rebels to blow up the hydroelectric dam that supplies electricity to the capital.  This is to pave the way for the long-awaited rescue mission.  Yet, Katniss does not take part because, when she emerges from the collapsed cement of the base, she finds roses littering the ground.  She takes it as a sign that President Snow is torturing Peeta for every move against the government.  She is only alerted to the operation after it has begun.  As such, she looks on as the rescue team, which includes Gale, walks into a trap.  With the team nearing the prisoners, power suddenly turns on and communication is cut.  Hoping to buy some more time, Katniss tells their technical chief, Beetee Latier (Jeffrey Wright), to connect her with President Snow.  The leader’s taunting points to the ambush, but they are allowed to get away without a shot being fired in anger.  Katniss is relieved to see everyone return safely, but when she goes in to see Peeta, she finds him more than changed.  As soon as he lays eyes on her, he flies into a murderous rage, attempting to choke her to death.  Once things calm down, it is theorized that he had undergone mental conditioning.  It is little comfort for Katniss.  As President Coin leads a rally, Katniss goes to the hospital wing to view Peeta thrashing about in agony.

I thought it was going to be agony to write that synopsis of Mockingjay – Part 1, but it turned out shorter than I anticipated.  I promise I did not attempt to truncate it at all.  Instead, its brevity is the result of multiple scenes of Katniss being emotional in some manner.  Please do not take that as a criticism of any kind.  These are fraught times through which she is living, and at least it is somewhat clearer who she cares about more between Gale and Peeta in this installment.  What is more emotional is the stand of poor people against their oppression.  At one point, President Snow addresses all of Panem by indicating that the capital is the heart and the job of the districts is to supply it with what it needs to survive.  After all, a body cannot exist without that which pumps its lifeblood.  It made me think of how the Catholic Church is sometimes described in similar anatomical terms.  However, they point to two starkly different structures.  There is nothing symbiotic about what is going on in the movie.  President Snow claims that the system keeps everyone safe, but in reality, it is exploitative.  With Catholicism, our body is a living one that provides for everyone in an individual way, but all contributes to the building of a heavenly kingdom.  President Snow likely thinks of Panem as heaven and him as its god.  On the other hand, there is no disdain with the Lord for His people.  A loving God does not bomb His people or torture them, or provide more for one than another.  At base, God is not a tyrant.  He asks for our faith, He does not order it.  Like the Prodigal Son, we are free to wander when we choose, and come back when we are able.  Finally, such is His mercy that he welcomes us without malice.  None of these are present in the so-called body that President Snow presents to the people of Panem.

And Mockingjay – Part 1 is the third in The Hunger Games series that I have presented to you.  I appreciated the presentation a little more in this one, but I grew impatient with the obvious way in which they use Katniss.  Thus, yawn.