http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/
Hunger Games (2012)
A strong anti Government message
I’m sure that this movie will create some budding little L libertarians. Even more so than the recent “Atlas Shrugged”. If only because the theater was packed with youngsters. Some as young as 10. So much for PG13. And, of course, the obligatory crying baby!
On technical points, while it may win Academy Awards and be a box office smash, it is NOT “GREAT”! (Although I might go see it again to capture the nuances drown out by the poor crying baby. (Wasn’t that “child abuse”? Or aggression by the parent of stealing their fellow theater goers’ expensive experience.)
I didn’t think anything was especially note worthy. In the ENTIRE movie. in general. It doesn’t have a stand.out “Gone With The Wind” type moment.
It lacks the vivid realism of that opening scene in “Saving Private Ryan”, which as much as Hollywood could, puts you on the beach with a feel for the awesome ferocity and death. Made me realize that those D-day vets were one crazy group of men. With real ‘huevos rancheros’. Lacks the pathos of Tom Hanks in “Castaway”. Fails to terrorize us like “Psycho”.
It fails to communicatethe abject desperate poverty critical to the story line. The “District 12” residents don’t look like the starving Death Camp inmates in that “Band of Brothers” segment. Or the poor in Henry Fonda’s portrayal in “Grapes of Wrath”. Look at a picture from the Depression and it communicates poverty. In fact, the “poor” from District 12 look fatter than the average Hollywood starlet or runway fashion model. Hollywood can do anorexic well; the “hungry” cast looks downright fat.
In doesn’t havean iconic line of dialogue like: George C. Scott in “Patton” telling us “to make the other poor dumb bastard die for HIS country”; Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men shouting “You can’t handle the truth!”; Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” calmly quietly promulgating the Libertarian realization that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”. Somehow “May the Odds be Ever in your Favor” just doesn’t do it; “May the Force Be With You” was best.
It doesn’t have the artistic beauty of “Avitar, “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”, or “Casablanca”.
What it does have is those sometimes wordless messages to hate the elite, the Government, the System, and “the Man”.
For example, the Government doesn’t do maintenance well when Katniss Everdeen walks through the “electrified” fence. The reason there are drugs in prison is that humans are better than maze rats for finding away.
For example, the ruling class in the Capitol are effete drones living parasitically and vacariously off the suffering poor. Effie Trinket, wearing a costumer and wearing strange cosmetics, is an example of ego run amuck. Especially when she tells the condemned tributes about her inconvenience.
For example, in registering for the reaping, the clerks have all the humanity of the Post Office or the DMV. We see that repeatedly like when the trackers are inserted in the tribute’s arms —sending the message that we don’t own our own bodies.
So there’s a ton of subliminal messaging to create little L libertarians in the future.
So on that basis alone, it overcomes all its shortcomings. And revolutions don’t fail. The human spirit, like the maze rat, always gets through.
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Here’s a thoughtful well-written review of the movie. As opposed to what you read above.
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: the realistic real li
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