I'm not particularly enamored of the Hunger Games series of films, which have been pretty blah, as far as I'm concerned. Competently made, certainly, but not hugely impressive or anything. But I am transfixed by the teaser for the last film in the series:
This is a more powerful bit of filmmaking than 90% of what made it up onto the big screen in the series. From the coordinated movements to the fetishization of weapons to the Nazi-esque appropriation of Katniess' salute
to the stark contrast of Katniss and the vanguard
to the final moment where the dance troupe/revolutionary corps use their bodies to mimic the symbol of their revolt
to the incredibly basic educational content for the proles
this is propaganda filmmaking at its finest. It serves to rally the people of District 13, providing an image and a promise of strength and unity in the face of the enemy.
And it relays to the audience of the film (rather than the audience in the film) a different message altogether, one that is a prominent theme of the final book in the series. This clip is short and spare, serving an important aesthetic purpose: Like so many other revolutionaries before them, the people of District 13 risk trading one fascist autocracy for another.