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Battle Royale (2000)

Dir: Kinji Fukasaku.

In a future Japan, unemployment has exploded, children boycott schools and show explicit defiance. So the authorities take control in a shocking way. A class of children are picked by lottery to take part in the 'Battle Royale'.

The film focuses on one such ill fated class. They are kidnapped and taken to an isolated island. They are confronted by their trusted teacher Kitano ('Beat' Takashi Kitano) who tells them the shocking details... They have 3 days to kill each other. And only one may be left alive at the end!

They find that there are collars around their necks, these they are told will explode if they attempt to escape, or remove them. (and this is demonstrated in a truly shocking gore scene) They contain microphones so the adults in charge can monitor them. If, after the 3 days, more than one child is left alive all the collars will explode. The children have no choice, it's kill or be killed. If they dont, they'll all die anyway! They are given a bag containing a random weapon (everything from a machine gun to a frying pan) and let out one at a time onto the island.

At certain times during, and at the end of each day, Kitano announces over a loud speaker the names of the children who have died. And as the children are killed, we see at the bottom of the screen the names of them (split into boys and girls) and how many are left alive. And to watch this number slowly drop and drop makes for grim viewing...

 

What is most disturbing is that the children are played by children, not young adults. A bit of casting that was very controversial in Japan.

The school bully types cope best with the situation and some kill their classmates without hesitation. Some even with pleasure. One older child involved is a survivor from a previous 'game' and has volunteered to play again. He becomes the films scariest character as he ruthlessly machine guns down, boys and girls with calculated coldness. But so appaling is their situation that some of the children simply break down and wait to die while others commit suicide (like a boy and girl who hold hands as they jump to their deaths from a cliff).

Some band together into groups to help each other cope as they try to think of a way out of the horror. But the very nature of the 'game', that if you dont kill each other, you will all die anyway, slowly eats away at the bond. And paranoid children, scared of who they can really trust, armed with guns and knives, can only lead to one thing. And to see these classmates, friends, turn on each other after all their noble attempts to stand together, is a shocking and depressing sight.

We learn a bit about a few of the children (the film focuses mainly on a small group of the kids out of the 42, but we see every one of the children as they are killed) and their relationship with each other through short flashbacks. The main two children we follow through this hell are a boy named Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and a girl named Noriko (Aki Maeda).

The violence is uncompromising and bloody. Children stab and hack at each other and shoot each other down without mercy. The film never shys away from the horror, whether its the damage inflicted on the victim or the slow psychological destruction of the killer.

The performances are all outstanding. Fujiwara and Maeda, with nearly the whole movie to carry, are espcially good and Kitano is effectively emotionless adding a scary realism to his characters extreme behavior.

This is a truly exceptional piece of work by all involved especially director Fukasaku and writer Kenta Fukasaku who adapted the screenplay from the highly successful novel by Koshun Takami. So yes, it's exciting, yes it's action packed but it's also uncompromising, shocking, deeply moving and very sad. I can think of no other 'action/horror' film that covers all those emotions and it's this combination that makes "Battle Royale" such a unique viewing experience.

A serious adult film about the destruction of childhood in it's most explicit form.