The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins was based on the 10th Hunger Games from Coriolanus Snow’s perspective. The Hunger Games is when 2 tributes are picked among the citizens of Panem from ages 12-18, one female and one male in each district. This is an annual event that happens once a year and is a brutal experience for the citizens of Panem. In Panem, there are 12 districts and the capital, where district 1 is the wealthiest and district 12 is the poorest. Each district has its job for work, for example, one district may be in charge of fishing and another is in charge of woodwork. Every year it is more likely for an individual from district one or two to win because they go to an academy to train for this event till they are ready to compete. They are called the career tributes during the games and are unstoppable. Some individuals in the wealthier districts end up volunteering, but if you are in the lower districts it is fate that you will die from the lack of preparation. The Hunger Games was first made to show the starvation and hard times during the rebellion that turned into a war before the Hunger Games even started. In the Hunger Games, there are 24 tributes and only 1 of them survives.

A Basic Overview: No Spoilers

Coriolanus Snow was the President at the time in the 74th Hunger Games and this movie is trailing back into his past. In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a female tribute from District 12 was chosen to participate in the 10th Hunger Games and her name was Lucy Grey. Lucy Grey is an important contribution to this movie as we see her journey throughout the games and life. The main part of this movie is to see the experiences, life journeys, and how Snow changes into who he is today. Throughout the movie there was suspense and some gory scenes, but it just added excitement to the plot. We see how the new experiences of characters changed the plot and how others were affected by other actions. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is split into three parts which includes the actual 10th Hunger Games and other very interesting scenes such as seeing what all the districts looked like back then. Overall, Snow learns great lessons throughout his journey in this movie and forms great relationships with people such as Lucy Grey.

I would rate The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as 4 out of 5 stars.  I loved the sound effects and the videography. The talent, skill, and effort that was put into this film are very noticeable once you can watch and embrace it.  I loved the fact that the creators also asked well-known artists such as Olivia Rodrigo to write songs for the movie. The song “Can’t Catch Me Now” was a lovely addition to this movie and I felt it was a brilliant idea for advertising and more. Another part that I loved was how the movie kept you on your toes the entire time. In almost every scene I was curious about what would come next and was thinking back to other parts in the movie to understand why. The reason I did not rate this movie 5 out of 5 stars is because it was hard to follow in some specific parts. Some aspects of the film were also confusing, leading me to get off track for a short time. If I were to pick my absolute favorite Hunger Games movie it would have to be the first one in the series. The reason I would pick the first Hunger Games movie is because I love the actors and the arena in that specific film. I also love the storyline of the first book and movie in the series. There was also an enormous amount of effort and detail put into that movie and usually for me the first movies are always the best. The first film amazingly portrayed the significant amount of control President Snow had over all the districts. Overall, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a very entertaining movie and I would highly recommend watching it.