The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel that shows how the Games started and how Coriolanus Snow became the person we would know later.

The movie takes place during the 10th Hunger Games, way before Katniss. Snow is still young and poor even though his family used to be rich. He is trying to win a prize at school that could give him a better future, and that’s how he ends up becoming a mentor in the Games.

Snow is assigned to Lucy Gray, a tribute from District 12. She is really different from the other tributes because she sings and has a lot of personality. At first, it seems like Snow wants to help her survive just because it will make him look good, but as the movie goes on, their bond grows stronger.

Still, there is always tension, because Snow also wants power and control more than anything else.

The Games themselves are brutal, even though they don’t look as fancy as in the later movies. The arena is smaller, the tributes don’t get as much attention, and the Capitol is still figuring out how to make people watch. That made it feel even scarier, because the Games were more about survival than entertainment.

Lucy Gray’s cleverness and Snow’s schemes help her stay alive, but you can also see how dangerous the Capitol really is.

One of the most interesting parts of the movie is watching Snow change. At first, you can almost feel bad for him because he is desperate to protect his family and prove himself. But little by little, you start to see how selfish he really is. Even with Lucy Gray, who clearly trusts him, he starts making choices that show he cares more about power than love.

The ending proves that deep down, Snow was always going to become cruel.