My daughter and I saw The Hunger Games over the weekend, and it left me feeling a bit empty.  I'm so glad I saw it with her so I can help her process feelings and try to answer any questions that came up for her while sitting through a two hour killing spree.  Kids decimating kids.  How I long for Winnie The Pooh right about now.  I hadn't read the book, but my 12 year old daughter said a friend lent it to her...not sure if she read the whole thing.  And she really, really, really, wanted to see it (I refused a midnight showing Thurs).

Where's the moral of the story?  I had a hard time trying to find it, and maybe that's because I'm so used to having morals spoon fed to me these days.  But, The Hunger Games seemed morally vague.  Not to say that isn't ok, but it's not what I'm used to.  Maybe we get to come up with our own for change?  Maybe there's no "righteous" moral.  Maybe it's a human- nature documentary of sorts? (I'm reminded of Lord of the Flies).

The highlight of this film for me was seeing Lenny Kravitz on the big screen!  He played the uber-cool trendsetting stylist Cinna. It was also great to see Woody Harelson, also Donald Sutherland (playing the big, bad gov't dictator). Oh, and Stanley Tucci rocked the cheezy media host of the actual Hunger Games.  Nice cast.  Very nice score.  Just a questionable moral.

Grossing $155 million on opening weekend, The Hunger Games will most likely stick around in theatres for at least a week or two!  I highly suggest seeing it with your "younger than 15 year old" child to help them process the utter gruesomeness of it all.  Check out this article:  http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/03/22/choices-in-hunger-games-may-be-hard-for-kids-to-grasp/

Maybe this story didn't sit well with me because our society isn't too far from the one depicted here?  Scary.  With so much rage in the world right now, do we really need a film to mirror that back to us?  Any thoughts?

Know You're Loved...JG