Hunger Games (minimal spoilers)

[hudebnik]

So shalmestere and I saw the movie this afternoon, after having read the book a week or two ago.

They did a good job, all things considered. Both District Twelve and the Capitol looked pretty much the way I imagined them: parts of District Twelve were location-shot in North Carolina, with ramshackle Depression-era houses and appropriately Appalachian topography and vegetation, while the Capitol was appropriately colorful, high-tech, fantastic, and shallow. The Arena was also shot in North Carolina (convenient for Katniss that things are basically familiar).


Things are always left out in converting a book to a movie, and most of them I didn't mind.

• They wrote Madge and the Mayor out of the movie, but what they did instead made sense.


• Katniss's illness in the cave would have added to her relationship with Peeta, but it would have cost a fair amount of screen time to do properly.


• Likewise Katniss's brush with dehydration: it felt important at the time I read it in the book, but the movie didn't suffer too much from its absence.


• Peeta's serious injury near the end, tourniquet treatment, and subsequent reconstructive surgery. This was obviously a life-changing event for him, but the movie makes sense without it.


• Katniss's interactions with Peacekeepers before the Reaping. This would have made some of them human, which will affect the second movie, and it shows her character. On the other hand, it would have taken a fair amount of screen time; perhaps it'll be done at the beginning of the second movie.


• Katniss's deafness, and subsequent reconstructive surgery. The deafness is hinted at by a "ringing in the ears" tone for the rest of that scene, but nobody ever mentions it. This affects how certain things can be written in the second movie.

Here's what I felt were serious omissions:

• Malnutrition. Katniss, Gale, and Peeta have seldom in their lives filled their stomachs. In the book, when Katniss and Peeta encounter the abundant food on the train and in the Capitol, they start stuffing their faces desperately and uncontrollably; in the movie, you see them surrounded by fancy food but I don't recall seeing them eat anything. And the actors look way too well-fed to have grown up in those conditions (although I found Katniss's mother and sister believable).


• The "drugging Peeta" scene. The movie made sense without it, but it would have taken thirty seconds of screen time, easy, and it adds an interesting twist to the Katniss-Peeta relationship.


• The "bread from District Eleven" scene. This would have taken a bit more screen time: a scene in which Peeta points out regional cuisines on the plate, and a scene in which the bread arrives, Katniss recognizes it and conspicuously thanks "the people of District Eleven". Still, two minutes of screen time would do it, and I thought it was a powerful and important illustration of both her decency and the budding sense of inter-district unity. I really missed it.

What was added? Well, there's an execution that the book only mentions, and the movie shows (very appropriately and believably) how it is carried out. Some of the back-story is explained (believably) by TV commentators rather than by Katniss-as-narrator. Some things are explained and motivated by added dialogue between Seneca and President Snow; again, I found this reasonably plausible. No complaints on this score.

Comments

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

Is it just me or in the movie did Haymitch tell her, "Head for high ground and find water"? I had a moment of lag, and then thought, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND"

Yes, I had exactly the same reaction: are the laws of physics different here? In the book he says "put as much distance as you can between yourself and the others, and find a source of water," which makes sense.

It's the first time in the history of the games that one district sent a sponsor gift to another.... she's not merely winning, she's breaking the Games themselves...

Good point; I had forgotten that. Definitely an omission; maybe it'll be in the "Director's Cut" on the DVD release.