The Hunger Games

My sister and I went to see The Hunger Games this weekend now that the movie has finally reached the discount theater ($2 a ticket, I can't argue with that!)

I haven't read the books. I hadn't even had any serious urge to see the movies--they were just on my "I'll probably watch them through Netflix sometime" list. In other words, I had not yet embraced what has become an absolute pop culture phenomenon in the past year or so.

But The Hunger Games ended up being one of the most provocative, powerful movies I have ever seen. I tend to get pretty philosophical when I watch movies and to try to look for the life lessons/ allegories to life in most movies I see, and this movie provided more than enough food for thought. To me, it was a powerful social commentary that raised timeless questions about life. Like these:

• What if you were a teenager and your very life literally depended on how popular you were?
• What are humans capable of when they are left to their own devices and their base survival instincts?
• How can you exert some control over your life when you live in a totalitarian society?
• What is stronger than fear for your life?
• Would you be willing to die to save someone you loved?
• And the most intense question of all: Would you be willing to kill to save someone you loved?

I won't spoil the movie if you've not seen it yet and still want to, but I would highly recommend it because of the way that it intensely grapples with a lot of questions that have no easy answers. Yes, it does have some violent moments, even though much of the violence is not really on screen but rather something you know is happening in the background. I can't endorse all the philosophies of The Hunger Games and certainly not the violence, but overall I found it to be a really thought-provoking depiction of honor, sacrifice, loss, and love.