The
Hunger games series is one of the most popular franchises in recent years,
appealing to boys, girls, and everything in between. I know that my own sister
was sucked into the novels, and movies. I personally liked Mockingjay Part 2,
as did many critics; ultimately it is the themes and ideas that the film
portrays that is its strength; the division within the rebels, the manipulation
of media and war, and the survival of people in the face of overwhelming odds.
The books,
written by Suzanne Collins, are set in a dystopian future, where each year, two
children from twelve districts are sent as tributes to a compulsory
gladiatorial competition known as the Hunger Games. It is a story of Katniss
Everdeen, one of the children chosen to participate in the 74th Hunger games,
and after the events of two whole books, sparks a revolution, the driving force
of the last two Mockingjay films. Part 2 film deals with the conclusion to the
revolution, the violent war that leads to the uniting of the districts and
Capitol, while also focusing on the love triangle between Katniss, her
childhood friend Gale, and her fellow tribute, Peeta.
The
characters do not drive this story; they are less the epic heroes than the
celebrity soldiers, mere tools for the vast agencies that have gone to war.
Katniss, throughout her whole life, has been manipulated by the Capitol, and
now the rebels she has chosen to fight along. Katniss has become the ‘Mockingjay’,
a symbol of freedom for the rebels, and that’s all the leaders treat her as, a
symbol, that when the time comes, will be more useful as a martyr. There are no
‘good guys’ in this war, merely less corrupt. The film doesn’t shy away from
the grim reality of warfare, showing the rebels attacking civilian targets
while posing as the Capitol in order to further rally support against their
enemy’s leader, President Cornelius Snow. The Capitol are even worse than the
rebels, Snow acknowledges the fact that they will lose this war, deciding that
as a final show of strength to convert the outer neighbourhoods of the Capitol
into a series of booby traps in order to make sport of the rebel’s deaths,
filling them with morbidly creative killing machines and monsters.
The
rebels are clearly not the most virtuous collection of characters, but it makes
sense, while the fighting may consist of human/reptile hybrids, hovercrafts, explosive
crossbows, and other crazy gadgets, it is ultimately a reflection of modern
warfare. In World War 2 the ‘heroic’ allies would bomb civilian targets,
Britain was still a racist empire, and the allies sided with Russia, a country
who at the time had so much blood on its hands their red flag didn’t just stand
for revolution. The film treats death and war with a sense of maturity that is
to be admired, when Finnick is torn to shreds by monsters, it’s sudden, Katniss
doesn’t get to lie him down and sing a sad song to him, like real warfare with
real casualties, Finnick died in the heat of battle without a proper goodbye. The rebel leader, President Coin, has been
planning this revolution for decades, and it is clear that perhaps she views
this enterprise as less of a war for freedom, and more as a violent coup, in
fact during the film it’s clear she wants Katniss dead because once the war is
over she’ll become a liability. The rebels have a secret agenda of instilling
their own dictatorship, and the Capitol wishes to kill as many rebels as they
can in a final act of bitterness, both sides using the media against one
another. Katniss’ squadron is in fact a piece of propaganda to inspire further troops
as well as lead Katniss to her death, turning her into a martyr for their
cause, while the Capitol televises the deaths of the rebels in the style as
they did to the Hunger Games tributes as a way to weaken the resolve of the
rebels.
The
conclusion of the film is great; you have Katniss, now leading her squadron
through the booby-trapped city towards President Snow’s mansion to assassinate
him. Katniss loses many friends and allies on her journey there, and once she
arrives, she finds a huge herd of refugees heading towards the safety of the
mansion, blending in, she stalks like a tiger towards her prey, only to have
the rebels bomb the crowd, storm the mansion, and capture Snow before she can
kill him. Once the Capitol is occupied by the rebels, Coin holds a ceremony
where Katniss will shoot Snow with her bow and arrow like a medieval firing
squad, but before this, she holds a private meeting with the remaining
survivors of the Hunger Games to explain her plan to create a new gladiatorial competition,
but now with the Capitol’s children. Katniss confronts an imprisoned Snow who
tells her that they were both deceived by Coin, who has simply replaced his
dictatorship with her own. Katniss, with the thoughts of betrayal and
manipulation, the existing precedent that Coin has tried to kill her, and the
traumatic experiences of two Hunger games and a war, turns her arrow not to
Snow, but to Coin, killing her at Snow’s execution.
Mockingjay
Part 2 is a great movie, there are so many aspects to analyze and enjoy, from
the inherent corruption of government and the media, to the subtle
manipulations of heroes. Katniss doesn’t end the war, she is not an epic protagonist
who with a few allies defeats the malevolent empire, but she simply tries her
best to survive in the world she has grown up in. Katniss is used by the
titanic forces, first as a way to keep the districts divided in the Hunger
Games, and later as a symbol, and soon-to-be martyr, in the war. I enjoyed the
film very much, and will look forward to buying it once it comes out on DVD.
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