Hungering for accuracy

– how the Hunger Games movie fails to capture the spirit of the books.
After reading and falling in love withSuzanne Charlton’s trilogy about a dystopian civilisation oppressing thepopulace by making their children take part in an annual blood-bath, I wasapprehensive about seeing the first Hunger Games movie. How could themovie-makers possibly do it justice?
In my view, they didn’t.
Not that they didn’t make a very enjoyablefilm: it’s just that Charlton ’s first person/present tense  narratives are so well-written and take thereader so deeply into the soul of the main character, Katniss Everdean (playedbeautifully well by By now, most people will be familiar withthe basic storyline: every year, each of the 12 districts of Panem (NorthAmerica, as it is after a breakdown in society) must supply one girl and oneboy (aged 12 – 18 years) to take part in the Hunger Games. Katniss becomes a contestantwhen she volunteers to take the place of her twelve-year-old sister, Prim.
I’m not giving out any spoilers out here,but I can tell you that the trilogy is about corruption, exploitation, manipulation,divided loyalties and love. Where the book succeeds the film fails: all it couldever be is a form of edited highlight of the actions scenes. Lawrence comesvery close to capturing the cynical and dour personality of Katniss, but the movie-makershave restricted her with a limited script and also by pandering to a young audience.In an attempt to trim the storyline theyhave altered what, to my mind, is the single most important element of thefirst book – how Katniss obtained the mockingjay pin (a small broche displayinga hybrid bird). The mockingjay is an insult to the Capitol: it representsrebellion and become the symbol of the uprising that soon take place.Mockingjays are descended from Jabberjays – genetically altered birds that theCapitol used to spy on the instigators of the previous uprising that precededthe Hunger Games. The earlier rebels used Jabberjays against the Capitol, sothe capitol tried to dispose of them: some were not destroyed and cross-bredwith mocking birds: these were symbol of the Capitol’s failure. Then there isthe history of the physical object itself: as I said, no spoilers here, but itwas important enough for Charlton to name her third book Mockingjay. Doubtless the movie-makers will fudge the issue in thesequels, but the whole impact will be lost.
Another thing that totally lost its impact wasthe attack by wild dogs just before the games are ended and the winner isannounced: in the book it is clear that the Capitol has manipulated the genepool of these animals and there is a specific and chilling horror that provesjust how far they will go to unhinge its population and keep them undercontrol.
After seeing the movie I re-read the entiretrilogy. I enjoyed it far more than I did the first time. To anyone who thoughtthe third book was an anti-climax after the first two, I urge you to read themagain. The third book is a magnificent novel that details the total mentalbreakdown and gradual reconstruction of Katniss who, by the age of seventeen,has been subjected to more corruption, manipulation and violence than mostpeople will see in a lifetime. And she’s still being manipulated, this time by the people she thinks she can trust.
Book 1 was violent; books 2 and 3 are more soand have far deeper themes running through them. I hold out no hope of the movie-makersdoing them justice.