THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

When The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie came out a few years ago I wanted to watch it. I kept thinking I’d go see it in the theater but I never made it there. Then I kept thinking it would come out on some streaming service and I’d be able to watch it then but I never noticed it available to watch anywhere. After I finished reading the book again I was determined to find the movie and watch it. And I’m so glad I did! I’m sad I missed out on the chance to see it in the theater. I feel like I really would have liked that experience. Don’t worry, I already have November 2026 on my calendar for the Sunrise on the Reaping movie. :)

Overall, I feel like the movie follows the plot of the book very well. The story is nearly identical and the things they got wrong could be considered ‘minor details.’ That’s not to say I didn’t loudly tell the tv “that’s not right!” and pause the movie so I could more-or-less rant to my husband about what they changed from the book. Jessop was bit by a bat on the train ride to the Capitol instead of a rat once they make it to the zoo. Snow fills his mother’s compact with rat poison himself instead of hinting to Lucy Gray to fill it before going into the arena. They don’t spend as much time prepping the tributes for the arena or their interviews. The main change I didn’t like was the way they ended the games. In the movie, the snakes come into the arena and kill everyone except Lucy Gray because of the handkerchief Snow sneaks into the snake cage and she’s declared the winner. In the book, the snakes come in and kill off a few of the tributes but some get away and the snakes are killed due to a rainstorm and 4 or 5 tributes are left to fight it out. 

Another thing that was changed in the movie was the way that Snow was promoted to Officer Training. In the book, he decides that if he is going to be spending the rest of his life as a peacekeeper he may as well be the top-dog peacekeeper so he starts studying for his officer exams so he can pass the test and work his way up, hopefully getting back to the Capitol one day. In the movie, his commanding officer notices his scores on an aptitude test and his physical fitness tests and decides to promote him because this general “has made a career out of ruining his enemies plans” and he wants to help Snow do the same. I feel like that changes your perception of him a little bit. When he had to take the initiative and work towards the promotion it showed his desire to be at the top and how that need is so ingrained in everything he is as a person. You don’t get that sense when he just lucks into it because the commanding officer wants to promote him. 

Now, I realize time constraints are a huge problem for books becoming movies and that’s why so many details can be left out or changed. The movie is 2 hours and 38 minutes long, according to google. The book is 517 pages, or 16 hours and 16 mins by audiobook. The one thing I really wish they spent more time on in the movie was the whole operation of hunting down the jabber jays. There is hardly any mention of how Snow hates them and the Mockingjays (and I feel like that is significant when you look to the future with The Hunger Games) and the whole collection process where they plan to send them back to the Capitol lab. They do include the moment where he records Sejanus’ plan to help the rebels in district 12 though. And they do include some of the backstory on the jabberjays at an earlier point in the movie so you do understand what he’s doing in that moment. It’s not a huge deal when you look at the big picture, it’s just my personal opinion.

All in all, I would say I really enjoyed the movie. The book was better, but I think the movie stayed to the script very well. I think they made the story easy to understand for people who didn’t read the book (my husband, for example, enjoyed watching it) but you don’t quite get the same perception of Snow’s point of view and his thought process, although, I think it was done about as well as it could have been in movie format. I’d highly recommend reading and watching The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as your next book/movie night!