If you'd bumped into me last week on Twitter I was wandering round wondering whether or not to take my older children - aged nearly 10 and 12 to see The Hunger Games. On the one hand the film seemed to be a quality movie - and, in my book, there are far too few of these. It discussed lots of important things and Boy One's teachers suggested it was a good idea.
On the other hand, kids die in it, other people won't take their children and Boy One's teachers suggested it was a good idea. And it took us a long time to get over the Bridge To Terabithia incident...
But then I decided that I'd rather run the risk my children were upset by a well-made movie that I watch too and brought up issues we could discuss properly than that they miss out on something worthwhile. So last night - Orange Wednesday - we set off.
I'm very glad I took them. The Hunger Games is an intelligent and absorbing film that handles really hard subjects very well. Furthermore, the hero is a woman who sticks to her guns (or rather bow and arrows).
Yes, kids die, but it is handled very sensitively. Sad but not devastating.
A full day later and we haven't run out of conversation about the film.
We've done lots of "what would you do in her/his position?" talks. And some "was she/he right to do x, y and z?" discussions.
Fairness, sacrifice, fear and image all get raised to be picked over.
The film's view of reality TV might have dislodged some of the scales from my sons' eyes when it comes to X Factor and their ilk. This is a Good thing.
We loved The Hunger Games and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants an antidote to mindless movies and shallow telly shows.
The Hunger Games people don't allow their trailer to get embedded but if you want a taste have a look at STV's Trailer Park.
