Catching Fire

On Thursday I was one of the lucky ones to see the Catching Fire premiere!

Now, in all honesty, I saw the first one about a week before seeing the new one. It was alright. Nothing overly great, in my opinion. But a good movie. Kids killing each other kind of freaks me out.

However, after seeing the second one, I am hunting down the books to read them! If, for nothing else than, discerning the theology behind the scenario. In the second movie, the victors, Katniss and Peeta, are called back into the arena because the dictating president wants to squelch the public power that they have achieved. The fact that two kids from the backwater district 12 can make a difference is throwing off the social norms and the people are rebelling.

Their goal throughout the movie is to find allies along the journey-something that is not always easy to do when trained killers and disastrous elements occur at any moment. Yet, they find strength, love, and (most importantly) hope in each other and the mission that they share. I was awestruck by the victors from another district, one young man and one older woman. She volunteered to keep the other girl safe from reliving the Hunger Games, and he in turn, took care of her. As they ran through the tropics, he would carry her on his back because of their connection and the love they shared. They also had an overarching sense of hope for what was to come after the games--even though she knew she would not make it out alive. It was a beautiful display of affection and the power of people working together.

It begs the question, is there anything that hope cannot do? If we lived to provide hope for the future, how can we change the world? In what ways does hope manifest itself in our daily lives?