The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel and set 64 years before the other Hunger Games movies. The movie shows how an ordinary girl from District 12 wins the 10th annual Hunger Games. This girl’s name is Lucy Gray, who is portrayed by Rachel Zegler. Lucy Gray has a mentor who helps her win the games, Coriolanus Snow who in the other movies is President Snow. Coriolanus is portrayed by Tom Blyth who has a crucial role in the movie. Lucy Gray and Coriolanus Snow start to fall in love with each other, but can’t see each other much. At the end of the movie, all of their feelings fade away. Snow loses feelings for Lucy Gray and his mind in the process. This sets him on a path of becoming the murderous President we see in the other movies.
Coriolanus and Lucy Gray head up to a cabin in the woods towards the end of the movie. Lucy Gray is starting to become suspicious of Snow because she suspects he killed three people. Lucy Gray confronts him about this which leads to arguments. Once they reach the cabin Lucy Gray tells Snow she is going to find some Katniss, (a plant which the roots can be eaten) and never returns. Coriolanus heads out to find her but all he finds is her shawl that he gave to her. When he picks up the shawl, a snake comes up and bites him in the arm. He is furious at Lucy Gray for disappearing on him, he screams out for her and begins shooting mockingjays that fly around him singing Lucy Gray’s “Hanging Tree” ballad. Lucy Gray ran past the trees, Snow shoots her thinking he killed her but when he runs over there she’s nowhere to be found and that is the last we see of her in the movie.
The movie is shot well and the actors did a good job with their roles, however the movie is confusing if you have not read the book. As someone who hasn’t read the book, I was very confused watching this movie. Although the movie is a prequel, if you haven’t seen the other movies some parts of the movie won’t make as much sense as they would if you have seen the other movies. The movie did not leave me on the edge of my seat and I found that I was getting bored during the movie.
Once Lucy Gray won the Hunger Games, I thought it would be over but it continued on and I feel like it was a little unnecessary for some things at the end of the movie. Right when you think it’s over, there’s still more left. The ending was also very confusing, Snow and Lucy Gray seemed to start hating each other out of nowhere and then Lucy Gray just disappeared and was never talked about again. Unless you are a huge Hunger Games fan and you have read every book, this movie most likely will leave you confused.
