the hunger games: a book review and film update

I recently read a young-adult novel entitled, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.   This fast-paced novel is the first in a trilogy and is set hundreds of years into the post-apocalyptic future when America has turned into an entirely different land called, "Panem".

In Panem, most of the citizens struggle daily for survival and live at the mercy of "the Capitol", the central governing body whose residents have access to riches, opulence, and luxury, not to mention more than enough to eat.  To keep the citizens in line, every year the Capitol produces a live-broadcast of a brutal contest where 24 young people are randomly selected from throughout Panem to kill each other until only one is left standing.

It is an intense premise but one which is not really all that far from current reality.  Collins apparently got the idea for the book while watching a reality series on television, and flipping through the channels where she saw news coverage of the war on Iraq......

Every single day, all across this planet, millions of people are struggling to surivive.  Their food supplies are compromised by policies of globalization, the natural resources of their land raped by foreign interests, and their governments in bed with these same foreign interests, their hands tied behind their backs while their faces smile in business suits on international television.

In Haiti, a country of roughly 8.5 million people, millions struggle to survive.  Many children do not make it beyond the age of 5, their bellies distended, their hair turned red from malnutrition.

Is it a televised contest to the death?

Not exactly.........but it is happening in full view and most people in the developing world prefer to flip that channel right back to a contrived "reality" show rather than watch for even a few minutes the reality of life for the majority of humans on this planet that we share.

However, there are those who are giving their time, their education, their training, and their hearts to live among the starving and to initiate sustainable programs to recover the dignity, economic solvency, and food sovereignty for these populations.

SOIL (www.oursoil.org), its co-founder Dr. Sasha Kramer, and her staff in Haiti are among this honorable few and it is my privilege and honor to tell their story with the Holy Crap! film.

Currently I am re-configuring the trailer for the film and will be able to show it to you very very soon.  In the meantime I am developing the longer film and am desperate for an intern to support this process.  If any of you know of someone who might be available/interested to support me in releasing this film, please contact me asap at jenniferbenorden@gmail.com.

And in the meantime, give thanks for the food that you eat, give thanks for the ground beneath your feet, for the fresh air you are able to breathe, for the clean water you can drink, and for the heart-work of organizations like SOIL around the world.......