Battle Royale

Kinji Fukasaku, Japan, 2000, 114 minutes

A gloriously violent film involving a class of misbehaving Japanese teenagers who, on the pretence of going on a school trip, are drugged and taken with their teacher to a remote island where they are informed they will be taking part in Battle Royale. This is a new initiative by the government to keep the current generation of disrespectful, vicious adolescents under control. When the class regains consciousness, they are told that they must kill each other to stay alive, with the last person standing being allowed to go home. Equipped only with a bag, picked at random, which contains one ‘weapon’ (some useful, such as a gun, and some not-so-useful, such as a dustbin lid), to be used to despatch the others in the class, some of the pupils band together whilst others prefer their chances alone better, and some pupils choose not to kill at all! As if this doesn’t seem bad enough, each pupil is fitted with a collar around their neck, which can be remote-detonated to explode if the pupil concerned breaks any of the rules. The rest of the film is concerned with the many ingenious methods used to despatch the pupils, so the trick is not to get too attached to anybody!!

Unlike many of the films today, Battle Royale has an actual plot interwoven into the violence, which allows it to be distinguished from its gory counterparts, making it a real gem for those who like their films with lots and lots of blood!

Review by Laura Brown
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2008

"To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself."

- George Orwell

Could you kill your best, most trusted friends if it meant your survival? Kinji Fukasaku’s dazzling, violent film created a furore that reverberated around the globe with its brutal premise. Based on Takami Koshun’s novel, and scripted by his son to suit a modern-day Japanese audience, Battle Royale is the thought-provoking tale of forty schoolchildren armed to the teeth and dumped on a remote island, where they must execute each other inside three days until one remains, otherwise the military will slaughter them all. No surprise then that this crimson-soaked, stunning movie is frequently described as a hybrid of “Lord of the Flies”, “The Running Man” and TV’s “Survivor”.

The trouble is, teenagers these days are skipping school, taking drugs and assaulting (rather than respecting) their elders. The kids aren’t alright, as the Offspring would say - and the Japanese Government are exasperated with their actions. They introduce the Millennium Education Reform Act to bring the brats back into line. Whilst a few are happy to indulge in the bloodshed, for the rest what happens is merely a matter of hiding, trying to beat the system or giving in to their grief. We see one couple committing suicide rather than play the game, friends murdering friends, sweethearts killed by the secret object of their affection. Ironic puppy love you could call it. This unsettling portrait of life on the island is far more than cartoon violence by kids.

Like most action films, there are faults - but a film that dares to raise questions with its content is more satisfying than a film that declines. Battle Royale is a powerful red barrage of modern Asian filmmaking, its strengths undeniable, its weaknesses few. If you aren’t totally advert to violence, then bring your mates along and you will really enjoy yourself.

Review by Chay Williamson
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2003