Book v Film: The Hunger Games – Mockingjay (Part 1)

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”

The first part of the final novel in Suzanne Collins’ young adult trilogy of novels, The Hunger Games, Mockingjay (Part 1), directed by Francis Lawrence, follows on from the cliff-hanger of last year’s Catching Fire, with the echoing words that District 12 has been destroyed. Transferred to District 13 in her fragile state, and now under the charge of President Coin (Julianna Moore), Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) must now become the iconic Mockingjay, a symbol of hope and courage in the revolution, to unify the districts of Panem, rescue Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), fight to save those she loves, and attempt to shatter the games forever.

Book:
Film:
Adaptation:

The following post is a review of the film adaptation in comparison to the book. You can read my review of the book on its own here.

Moving on from the huge twist that Catching Fire left us with, the story itself didn’t really have anywhere else to go, but the best characteristics of a dystopia are always around the themes of standing up for yourself, fighting against wrong, and making a difference, and it’s what we’ve been waiting for Katniss to do. Unfortunately, she isn’t quite ready.

It’s the focus on Katniss’ character that takes dominance with this film, as she’s left broken, confused, and with a complete lack of trust in everybody around her. For the most part of this first instalment, this is shown excellently. We easily see Katniss’ inner struggle as we urge her to become the heroine she was born to be. It’s this focus on her character that reminds us of what we love about the franchise as a whole and led by the beautiful Jennifer Lawrence, it’s hard not to be captivated by her emotional performance.

Whilst this film works primarily as a teaser for the story’s big finale, a lot happens in this first instalment to get us excited for something big, as Katniss proves that she’s up for the job and that the other districts really do need her support. This opens up some great action scenes and once again highlights the bleak setting of this dystopia. What I love most about The Hunger Games trilogy is that it doesn’t shy away from showing death and desperation. More than once we see the ashes of hundreds of bodies lying on the ground of District 12, reminding us of what happened in the previous films. But it’s all building up to something much bigger and better, and with the final novel being split into two, we don’t get to see the revolution that we’re all dying to see.

All of the brilliant original cast reprise their roles, including Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Sam Claflin as Finnick, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Donald Sutherland as President Snow, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen, and Paula Malcomson as Mrs Everdeen, but the return of one character outshines all, and that’s the legendary Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee. It’s brilliant to see that he managed to film all of his scenes for this first instalment, and I hope we get to see a lot more of him in the second film.

There’s also a couple of big additions to the cast, firstly with the beautiful Julianne Moore who plays President Coin, a fantastic actress who has the boldness and strength in character that Coin needs, and secondly with Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer as Cressida.

Differences From The Book:

Here’s a list of changes in chronological order:

The book opens with Katniss in District 12. In the film, she doesn’t go back until a little later.
Finnick is much more disoriented in the book and has a couple of meltdowns. It’s obvious in the film that he is distressed, but he seems quite together for the most part.
In Katniss’ demands, she states that “I KILL SNOW. If he’s captured, I want the privilege.” She doesn’t say this until the second part of the film.
In the book, it is Katniss’ prep team who have been kidnapped, not Effy; we don’t see her until later on in the books. Her prep team have also been chained up, which Katniss is horrified by. With the first two adaptations not emphasising Katniss’ relationship with her prep team, it would have seemed out-of-place to include them in this film.
The change in perspective means that we get to see more of Plutarch’s and Coin’s planning, and their opinions of Katniss, whereas we don’t get to see this side of the story in the book. We also don’t see the way in which Coin controls District 13, with food rations and daily schedules.
Castor and Pollux are identical twins in the book.
In Peeta’s interview with Ceaser, in the book, Peeta admits to killing Brutus. Enobaria is then rescued along with Peeta. In the film, Brutus and Enobaria’s fate from Catching Fire is not explained.
In the book, Peeta’s message of warning ends with him being attacks and his blood splattering on the floor. We don’t see any of this violence in the film.
The film version of Peeta’s rescue is much more action-packed since we only read it from Katniss perspective in the book.

Overall Verdict:

Everything in this first instalment sets up Mockingjay (Part 2) as an epic finale, but that’s also what undermines this first film. It’s a great addition to The Hunger Games film adaptations, but it doesn’t have the entertainment factor that the previous two films have, nor the conclusion that we are becoming impatient to see.

Able to read straight ahead to the second part of the story, the book is much more intense and impacting. To properly review this film, Part 2 needs to be taken into consideration, and our wait for the next instalment might burden our opinions somewhat.

Nevertheless, I can’t wait for what’s to come.