After watching the first four films of The Hunger Games franchise, and not really enjoying the experience, I will admit that I was curious about the origins of this saga.  It is something I wondered about with the others because I felt it needed further context.  Now that I have it with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), I cannot say that my understanding has been at all expanded.  Apparently, the people behind the office of the unseen president of Panem devised the title competition for divergent reasons.  Its architect, Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), devised them while drunk, wondering what would be the worst form of punishment for the rebellious districts from the fabled war.  The person primarily in charge of designing and implementing them, Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), sees them as a release for mankind’s baser instincts.  None of these are satisfactory for this Catholic reviewer, but here we go.

At the first place we go to in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, henceforth just The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, is that long rumored war that I guess started everything.  Dodging the destruction in the capital is the future president of Panem, Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow (Dexter Sol Ansell).  By the way, I will not be using his nickname.  He is a boy at this time, and his father is . . . somebody, a general, I think.  Anyway, he dies in the fighting, leaving their already struggling family destitute.  This does not stop the ambition of the now young man (Tom Blyth) some ten years after the end of the conflict.  He is a student and involved with what is called the “reaping” of young people from the twelve districts to compete in the Hunger Games.  In working with Casca and Dr. Gaul, Coriolanus expects to be awarded a special prize that will restore his family fortune and allow him to advance.  Unfortunately, on this day when the tributes will be chosen, Casca announces that the award will only be given to the one among his twenty-four peers who proves himself as a mentor to one of those picked from the districts.  Coriolanus is annoyed by this development, but his best friend, Séjanus Plinth (Josh Andrés Rivera), is outraged to be involved so directly in this distasteful practice.  He thinks there should be more direct contact between the mentors and the tributes, but his ideas are disregarded.  The person who does pay attention is Coriolanus, which is how he comes to be standing on the platform waiting for his charge, the singsong-y Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).  She also belongs to this world’s version of the gypsies, and they are called a word I cannot remember.  We are all God’s children, regardless.  Nonetheless, like the others, she is not happy to be part of this set of God’s children, and they are just as surprised to see Coriolanus.  He further endears himself to her by following them all the way to the cage they are forced to occupy in the zoo.  Things were different back then, I guess.  He goes on to help her by bringing her food and giving her other inside information.  There is a bond forming between the two, but his motivation is evidently focused on his career.  Their relationship is furthered when she saves his life after rebels attempt to blow up the gaming arena.  You could ask who are these rebels, but I would not be able to tell you and neither does the movie.  Once he is released from the hospital, he tours the damaged building and notices a hole in the floor to the subterranean parts, a good hiding place.  Thus, on the day of the death match, Coriolanus advises Lucy Gray to hide underground.  He also gives her a makeup compact full of rat poison, which she uses to help her to be the last person standing.  However, Dr. Gaul is about to let Lucy Gray be killed by the poisonous snakes released at the end, forcing Coriolanus to beg for his mentee’s life.  The plea works, but the illegal aid he gave her is discovered by Casca.  Instead of reaching his long sought-after goal, Coriolanus is punished by being forced to join the military.  He bribes his way into being sent to District 12 where Lucy Gray is from, and he is joined by Sejanus.  Sejanus had entered the arena to save his tribute, but had to be saved by Coriolanus.  As such, Coriolanus’ banishment is made more tolerable, particularly when Lucy Gray turns out to be alive.  Still, life in the army does not go smoothly.  While it is nice to be reunited with Lucy Gray, Sejanus is seen by Coriolanus aiding rebels.  When Coriolanus confronts Sejanus about these clandestine activities, the latter talks about the corruption of the games and how helping those opposed to them is the right thing to do.  Unbeknownst to Sejanus, Coriolanus records the treasonous confession and sends it to the capital.  This is why Coriolanus is not arrested when he finds Sejanus meeting with the rebels.  In the ensuing scuffle, Coriolanus ends up killing two of them, but Lucy Gray convinces the survivors to hide the weapons involved in the crime.  The others involved in the incident hang, and Lucy Gray convinces Coriolanus to run away with her.  They do not get far, though, stopping at the cabin where the guns had been stashed.  It casts suspicion on her, who tries to casually slip away for food in the rain.  Eventually, he goes after her and is bitten by a snake, leading to him firing blindly through the woods before returning to his barracks.  His work in betraying Sejanus earns Coriolanus a recall to the capital from Dr. Gaul.  Upon getting there, Coriolanus goes to see Casca, poisoning him for all the games’ creator knows about Coriolanus’ nefarious activities.

I guess I could conclude my synopsis of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes with the old cliché: and the rest is history.  I know that technically the other films are this one’s future, but allow me this little phrase, please.  I need something because I found this one harder to get through than the others.  The reason for my distaste is partly due to my knowledge of what Coriolanus will become, making him an anti-hero.  They are not my favorite kind of character.  At the same time, on this topic the movie has some interesting things to say.  It is Lucy Gray that provides the Catholic sounding philosophy when she states that she believes that everyone is born with a natural goodness.  Catholicism teaches this truth.  God did not make us for evil, but for good.  As 1 John 4:8 states, God is love.  Because of that, how could He want anything other than goodness.  With this in mind, it is reasonable to say that if this is how God created us, and that He wants us for Himself in Heaven, then it is society that corrupts.  This is how the clear-minded people in the story like Lucy Gray and Sejanus see the Hunger Games, as a corrupting influence.  The conclusion that Coriolanus and Dr. Gaul reach about the necessity of the annual competition is a perversion.  People are not animals unless the conditions in which they find themselves make them so.  That this is how Coriolanus views things at the end is actually not the worst aspect of the movie.  I will not mention what it is because there is no nice way of putting it.  Generally, it is sensitivity that is missing here, something God asks of all of us.

There is a lot missing from The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, like heart and a point.  It is somewhat fair to say that if there is a point, it is to show who Coriolanus started his life as being, but I could not help but think of the final product.  Because of this, it is enough to simply know that he is bad without having to put yourself through this film.