The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes substitutes a songstress for a huntress and the morally compromised, bankrupt scion of a once powerful Capital family for the heroic endeavors of The Hunger Games’ Peeta and Gale. A prequel set decades before Katniss entered the arena, Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is, at its core, an examination of why the Hunger Games exists.
What is the purpose of this gruesome spectacle? Can this annual butchering of children be justified as an effective method of keeping District rebels in check? Is there any moral justification for something as barbaric as pitting innocent children against each other in a fight to the death?
Those questions are woven into the film (just as they are in Suzanne Collins’ novel), as is the central issue of how a despicable, fascist society keeps its iron grip on power.
The action in Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place 64 years before Katniss competed in the 64th Hunger Games. Future President Coriolanus Snow is just 18 years old and not yet the coldly calculating, menacing figure portrayed by Donald Sutherland. This Corio (Tom Blyth), as he’s known to his classmates and friends, is lanky…but not by choice. With his parents deceased, Corio, his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer), and Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan) eke by on scraps. Their once-grand apartment has fallen into disrepair, and there’s no money for any of the extras his classmates can afford, including clothing.
It’s only because Tigris is a talented seamstress – and Corio can stifle his stomach rumbling – that none of his peers are aware of the Snows’ dire circumstances. How the mighty have fallen, but Corio and Tigris hold firm to the belief that “Snow lands on top” and that, ultimately, the family will be restored to its pre-war stature.
Corio’s relentless in his pursuit of a prize that will not only help his family financially but allow him to attend university. The prize is nearly within his grasp when the rug’s yanked out from under him. Rather than award the prize based on grades, 24 of the academy’s students will be assigned to mentor a tribute in the upcoming Hunger Games.
This shift in format is implemented by Head Gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) in reaction to the Games’ declining viewership, not just in the districts but among Capital citizens. To her dismay, no one seems interested in watching starving children stabbed and beaten to death anymore. Assigning mentors who’ll be charged with making the tributes – currently seen as subhuman and disposable – just a tad more engaging and television-friendly should help the ratings.
Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) is charged with matching mentors to the tributes, and he loathes the Snows, channeling his hatred of Corio’s father against the family’s last surviving male heir. Corio’s given Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl from District 12 – the poorest of the 13 Panem districts – to mentor. Lucy immediately piques Corio’s interest when she torments an enemy with a snake and sings when brought up on stage in her district to be introduced to all of Panem.
Does Corio find her interesting as a young woman, or is his look of fascination due to a quick calculation of the possibility of winning over viewers (and thus winning the grand prize) because she’s already standing out from the other tributes? Quite possibly, it’s the former at this point. But given our knowledge of his ascension to Panem’s presidency, the latter is lingering in his psyche, waiting to become the predominant motivating factor.
Corio needs Lucy to succeed and survive (and vice versa), but even he’s confused about his feelings toward this brave young woman with the voice of an angel and an old soul. Together, they work on humanizing her to the Capital audience while behind the scenes, Corio ingratiates himself with Dr. Gaul with suggestions that may improve the ratings but will no doubt also further dehumanize the tributes.
Donald Sutherland’s performance in the first four The Hunger Games films set the bar high for anyone who steps into Coriolanus Snow’s shoes. Tom Blyth, best known for playing the titular character in MGM+’s Billy the Kid, accepted the challenge and succeeds in capturing Corio’s transformation from a charming albeit ambitious young man to someone willing to sacrifice others in his pursuit of power.
Blyth plays Corio as a sympathetic figure up until the point where it’s impossible to deny the malevolent leader he’ll become is lying in wait, just beneath his carefully created exterior. Snow is the villain of The Hunger Games and even at his most compelling in the prequel’s first two acts, it’s impossible to ignore our knowledge of his destiny. However, Blyth’s performance is so multi-layered that he almost – at least briefly – allows The Hunger Games fans to forget Snow’s destined to be a monster.
Rachel Zegler is much more engaging in Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes than she was in West Side Story. Lucy charms viewers, playing to the camera while cleverly reminding the audience she’s not really from District 12; she’s part of the nomadic group of singers known as the Covey, and she isn’t really political. Zegler’s performance conveys that Lucy’s playing multidimensional chess with the audiences’ emotions.
Oscar-winner Viola Davis snacks on all the scenery, stealing every scene with her delightfully demented take on Dr. Gaul. Jason Schwartzman provides comic relief as Lucky Flickerman, a circus barker-ish weatherman who’s taking on his first gig as Hunger Games host. Lucky is a distant relative of Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman, and Schwartzman appears to have doubled-down on Tucci’s over-the-top take on a Flickerman.
The arena the tributes compete in is just a boring building and nothing compared to what Panem builds in the decades between the prequel and the first The Hunger Games. During the first years of the Games, the focus was on quickly dispatching the tributes by forcing them into a much more confined space than in the decades to come. As such, the action scenes in Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes are quick and brutal, and play second fiddle to all the human drama outside the arena.
Suzanne Collins’ novel spent a significant amount of time on supporting characters who are barely mentioned in the film, including Corio’s classmates. Yet even with the deletion of major portions of the book, the meat of Collins’ story remains intact. The screenplay hits all the key beats from the novel, only trimming the fat to focus more on Corio and Lucy’s relationship.
Those who’ve read The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will, obviously, have a better understanding of Collins’ intentions. However, this adaptation does justice to Collins’ work and is accessible to audiences who were introduced to The Hunger Games via the films rather than the books.
The final act doesn’t hit quite as well as the first two acts, but that’s really a minor issue. This return to the brutal, dystopian world of Panem lives up to its predecessors, which is impressive for a prequel arriving in theaters eight years after the fourth film of the franchise.
Songbirds & Snakes sings and slithers its way into being a terrific villain origin story that keeps you hooked until the very end.
GRADE: B
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for strong violent content and disturbing material
Release Date: November 17, 2023
Running Time: 2 hours 37 minutes
Directed By: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay By: Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie
