**Warning: there be spoilers below**
My husband was shocked that I agreed to go, but the other afternoon we went to the mall (the horror den for empaths) to watch The Hunger Games, a film described by my son as “ravaging.”
Not knowing much of the premise, I went mostly because our son enjoyed the book when he read it last summer after a forced march to the library. I vaguely recall magazine articles that piqued my interest due to the movie having a strong female lead character. I liked the intriguing prospect of watching a strong teen girl whoop ass...but enduring a violent film is hardly what I consider a good time.
(Actually, I love “Pulp Fiction” but those stellar kinds of films are few and far between).
The jumpy, hand-held filming technique pissed me off at first, but I realized that this was just a set up, a kind of documentary style intro to force a sense of hardscrabble reality upon us. Once the coal-miner’s daughter’s dire situation was established, and she was hustled out of District 12, the documentarians closed up shop and tension leveled out just as the violence was gearing up.
In retrospect, the first segment of the film was the most distressing to me, and I’m sure that’s no surprise to the director. He intended to establish the gritty, dark tone of life in the District, and from an Empath’s POV, he did it really well. I did find myself wondering “where the heck did they find all these stick insect extras?” but otherwise I was engrossed.
During the footage of the actual Game my only visceral response was to the graphic injuries...as a casualty of a recent bike accident, I could relate on a deeper level to the donation of the medicine Katniss received. The day after my bike accident, my employer gave me a special lotion “encoded with numinous energy” to apply to my lacerations and road rash. It did an amazing job of helping me heal. (Read about this unusual ointment here: http://www.vitafons.com/engprod.htm)
I guess I was rooting so much for the heroine that the gashes and slashes inflicted on others around her seemed justly meted out. I felt badly for the killer wasps that had to be sacrificed, but I have an odd soft spot for buzzing things, especially those whose stings provide cool hallucinogenic after effects!
The Hunger Games was an intense viewing experience. Battered and exhausted, I left the theatre, greatly appreciating that I went well into my healing process.
No comments:
Post a Comment