As an English major, it is essentially a given that I enjoy reading books. On many occasions, the books I love are converted into movies.
Unfortunately, this conversion has a tendency to massacre my favorite parts of the book and manipulate them into something that is more appealing to movie-goers.
It is because of this that I was less than optimistic when I walked into the movie theater on Friday night. However, it turns out that “The Hunger Games” is one of the rare exceptions to this rule.
Whereas I have not read the book since early last semester, I frequently found myself thinking, “I remember this part,” as the scenes flew across the screen.
Junior Connor Lacy agreed saying, “The movie did an amazing job of bringing to life both the barren life of District Twelve and the overabundance of the Capitol.
It showed how disconnected those two places are even though they are part of the same country.” “The Hunger Games” takes place in the future, where the country’s capitol forces one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts to fight to the death on national television as both a punishment and a reminder for a past rebellion.
The games will only end when one tribute remains. Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwartzbaum awarded the movie an A-, saying, “This ‘Hunger Games’ is a muscular, honorable, unflinching translation of Collins’ vision.
It’s brutal where it needs to be, particularly when children fight and bleed.
It conveys both the miseries of the oppressed, represented by the poorly fed and clothed citizens of Panem’s 12 suffering districts, and the rotted values of the oppressors, evident in the gaudy decadence of those who live in the Capitol.
Best of all, the movie effectively showcases the allure of the story’s remarkable, kick-ass 16-year-old heroine, Katniss Everdeen.”
It is clear to me that the author, Suzanne Collins, worked closely with the director, Gary Ross, to bring the book to life in such an accurate and wonderful way.
If you have read the books or just want to experience raw emotion mixed with two dozen adolescents fighting to the death, I would unquestionably recommend going to see this movie.
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