‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ is a cautious tale of a tyrant

Hollywood’s obsession with creating franchises out of intellectual properties has made it hard to find an entry that doesn’t feel like a cash grab. After all, “The Hunger Games” films had a perfect three-part run (the finale having been split into two parts), so was there a need to go back to the world of Panem to tell another story that places the franchise’s biggest villain as the protagonist in his younger years?

Set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as a tribute in place of her younger sister Prim in the first “The Hunger Games” movie, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” focuses on teenage Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow (Tom Blyth) trying to make a name for himself after the legacy of his once-glorious family suffered during the failed coup to overthrow the authoritative Capitol.

Living in poverty after his father’s death, he is under the care of his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer) and Grandma’am (Fionnula Flanagan). Coryo has his eyes on getting the biggest prize that will help his family get out of deprivation and afford university. To do that, he must mentor a fellow teen named Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), an eccentric performer from District 12 who was picked as a “tribute” to compete in the 10th Hunger Games – a brutal annual game where teens are forced to fight to the death as a reminder from the Capitol to the Districts that it controls them.

As depicted in previous films, The Hunger Games is a spectacle. Every tribute is basically a reality show contestant with their own personality and backstories that catch the attention of viewers, an important tactic for tributes to receive aid from supporters as a means to survive in the games. Winners become celebrities for the rest of their lives, whether they like it or not.

But the specific Hunger Games depicted in this prequel are different. In its first nine editions, it was a mere killing fest where teens were treated as machines and received very little-to-no training. Nothing grand happens to the victor afterwards. This concept has become so stale that even Capitol viewers couldn’t care less to tune in. Low morale towards the games is a threat to the Capitol as another uprising might take place soon.

Seeing this as a way to boost his profile, Coryo offers several suggestions to head gamemaster Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) to increase the stakes of the games among the Panem population. One of the things he did was to take advantage of Lucy Gray’s colorful personality which made her the most popular tribute with many donations during the game. This is pointed out as the blueprint of the extravaganza aspects of the games implemented in later years.

If Lucy reminds viewers a bit of Katniss despite their different personalities, it is intentional, as they are parallels of one another. In an interview during the film’s premiere, Ziegler explained that “Lucy Gray is a performer forced to fight and Katniss is a fighter forced to perform.” Without spoiling much, this perfectly showcases why Coryo considered Katniss a big threat to his regime.

A story that humanizes a tyrannical dictator without endorsing their harmful actions is hard to execute as a storyteller. While bits of Coryo’s humanity were shown many times and there was emphasis that his circumstances formed his perspective, his selfishness to accomplish his goals always exceeds, which is a gateway for him to become the evil President Snow that we know him as. The ability to tell the origins of a villain without glorifying them showcased the strength of Suzanne Collins’ storytelling in her book which the script faithfully translates to the big screen.

Blyth and Zegler are obvious standouts as they played Coryo and Lucy perfectly. Davis as Dr. Gaul is deliciously evil, reminding audiences that she is one of the best actresses in Hollywood. While her screen time is small, Schafer as Tigris leaves a strong impression for providing much-needed humanity to Coryo with her soft-spoken nature that the actress gave justice to.

Others in the main cast such as Peter Dinklage as Cas Highbottom, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, and Jason Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman are also noteworthy highlights.

Running at two hours and 36 minutes, the film had the difficult task of adapting a 517-page book into the big screen, much more so than “Mockingjay” which was 390 pages but was split into two films – a decision that director Francis Lawrence came to regret.

For casual viewers, it’s best not to see this as “another” Hunger Games movie where the arena scenes were usually the biggest highlights. They are just the middle parts of the narration. The last hour was spent on the aftermath of the 10th Hunger Games and how Coryo and Lucy react to their lives outside the arena. It’s best to see this as a case study on how a tyrant came to be.

Prequels are often hard to pull off because they might not add a lot to the main stories. There are also commercial considerations, which is why it’s understandable that prequels feel more like “content” than a fleshed-out story.

“Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is a rare prequel that effortlessly provides so much context to the earlier four films. It can be compared to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, another equally great prequel that told how rebels stole plans of Darth Vader’s Death Star which would later help the resistance win against Vader’s Galactic Empire in “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.”

It is also the perfect movie to release after the intense global political climate the past few years. Both the “Hunger Games” books and films have always been relevant due to their timely themes, and this latest is nothing short of that, adding a new terrifying perspective on how people like Coryo exist because power is all they want. Four stars out of five.