The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 American dystopian

action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and
Michael Arndt. Based on the 2020 novel The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes by
Suzanne Collins, it serves as a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012), and is the fifth
installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film stars Tom Blythe, Rachel Zegler,
Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andres Rivera, and Viola
Davis. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes held its world premiere in
Berlin, Germany on November 5, 2023, and was released in the United States on
November 17, 2023, by Lionsgate Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics and
has grossed $332.8 million worldwide.

Years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus

Snow remains the last hope for his fading lineage. Years later, Crassus' son, Coriolanus,
is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a 10th Annual Hunger
Games tribute. Coriolanus wants to win the Plinth Prize Scholarship to restore the Snow
name. Games creator and Academy dean, Casca Highbottom, who mistreats Coriolanus,
advises mentors to focus on entertaining viewers rather than the tributes winning the
Games. Coriolanus' wealthy friend and fellow mentor, Sejanus Plinth, resents the
Games' cruelty.

With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow becomes
alarmed when he's assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. Uniting their
instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race against time to ultimately
reveal who's a songbird and who's a snake. A musically talented tribute Lucy Gray Baird,
who he tries to protect in the 10th run of the games. She hails from District 12 and,
much like Katniss, also emerges as a favorite before ultimately managing to “win” and
get sent home. However, this victory is an empty one, as not only is she now scarred
from what happened, but her world at home remains a perilous one.

Coriolanus proposes a sponsorship scheme to Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul:

Capitol viewers can donate supplies to favored tributes via their mentors during the
Games to increase viewership. Coriolanus' class partner, Clemensia Dovecote, takes
credit for his proposal. Gaul places the proposal into a tank of genetically-modified
snakes that attack unfamiliar scents, and forces Clemensia to retrieve it. The snakes bite
Clemensia, confirming Coriolanus' authorship.

During a tour of the Games' arena, rebel bombs explode, killing several mentors and
tributes. The president's son, Felix Ravinstill, dies from injuries in the rebel bombing. As
revenge, Gaul releases her snakes into the arena, killing every tribute but Lucy Gray;
earlier, Coriolanus secretly put a handkerchief bearing her scent into the tank. Gaul
declares her the victor only after Capitol viewers demand it. After the celebration,
Highbottom confronts Coriolanus with the handkerchief and poison, sentencing him to
twenty years' Peacekeeper service in District 8. Coriolanus bribes an officer to transfer
him to District 12; Sejanus volunteers to join him.

Arriving in District 12 a failure, Snow is comforted by reuniting with Lucy, and the pair
confront their geowing feelings for each other. Snow comes to understand Lucy better
and her wild and defiant nature, and grows empathetic towards the Districts. It's not
long into his stay, however, that Snow discovers that Sejanus, who was also made a
Peacekeeper in 12, is plotting to help District residents escape to territory in the North
believed to be out of Panem's control. Bearing in mind his risked reputation in the
Capitol, Snow secretly records the evidence using a Jabberyjay that he sends back to
Dr. Gaul. Sejanus continues working on the plot until a conversation between him and a
fellow rebel named Spruce is walked in on by the Mayor's daughter and another citizen.

Snow and Lucy notice the situation nearby and, knowing this would risk the safety of
the plot, Snow and Spruce shoot the intruders and bury the remains. In the wake of the
growing chaos and uncertainty, Lucy tells Snow she is going to leave for the North
anyway, and despite having been offered a position in the Officers Training Academy in
District 2 for his information on Sejanus, Snow decides to join Lucy in her escape.

As the couple journeys to the North, Snow accidentally stumbles upon the buried guns
he and Spruce used to murder the Mayor's daughter, and Snow realizes that with the
evidence in hand, he could destroy any memory of his crimes and regain his family's
honor. Swayed towards betrayal, Snow struggles to cover his change of heart. Noticing
his behavior, Lucy assumes Snow is planning to leave, and once Snow picks up on her
own uncertainty, Lucy flees into the forest. Snow pulls out his gun and shoots into the
trees hoping to kill her. Despite sending several rounds in all directions, Snow is left
unsure whether she was struck or not, and with no time to waste, he disposes of the
guns and makes his way back to District 12 and is then transported to the Capitol. Dr
Gaul meets with him to praise Snow for his information on Sejanus's plot and explains
that she sent Snow to 12 in the first place to come to terms with the reality of Panem's
society. Snow then accepts his position to train as an officer and is practically adopted
by Sejanus's father, who remains unaware of Snow's involvement in his son's death.

The novel's epilogue reveals that the games were the brainchild of a young Dean
Highbottom, who thought it up as a simple and cruel method for a school project with
Snow's father Crausses. Crausses would then go on to present the idea to Dr. Gaul,
ultimately making the games a reality without Highbottom's knowledge. Highbottom
remains opposed to the games and resentful towards the Snow family. Growing tired of
Highbottom's treatment towards him, Snow decides to slip poison into the Dean's
drugs, killing him, beginning Snow's lifelong signature of poisoning his enemies. Snow
goes on to become a Game Maker and implement his own ideas into the games. Either
dying that day in the forest or escaping Panem, Lucy Gray is never seen again.

The ballad of songbirds and snakes is primarily interested in opportunities given and
choices made. We see the impact that evil choices have. Both those that the world
makes around us and those selfish, foul choices that we make ourselves. It also reflects
the being of humankind, the destruction of humanity all in the name of one thing.
POWER. The movie is like a mirror, it reflects who we really are as a society and as an
individual, what we would do in the name of power. What we would do to make it to the
top.