Hunger for Power
The Hunger Games novels were always a tale of governmental authority gone evil. The fourth film to be based on the series, Mockingjay–Part 2, takes that theme to another level.
The villain of the first three movies is Panem's despotic ruler, Coriolanus Snow, who terrifies citizens into obedience by conscripting 24 children per year into a televised battle to the death. In this final installment, shadow president Alma Coin has rallied the population to throw off that tyrannical reign. As her rebel army storms the Capitol, a two-time Hunger Games survivor sets out to assassinate Snow.
The story builds to the discomfiting realization that Coin is willing to take unthinkable steps to seize control of the country. By the time she declares herself interim leader, insisting the people are clearly too traumatized right now to vote on the decision, the audience has learned the lesson well: Those who seek power for themselves may claim to be benevolent servants, but that's usually not true.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Hunger for Power."