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At the turn of the century in Japan, a film was released that caused quite a stir. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Battle Royale depects a near-future Japanese society in which the social order has broken down and youth violence runs rampant. In a desperate attempt to shock the nation's youth and bring them under control, the government passes the Battle Royale Act. Each year, one graduating class is randomly selected and taken to a remote island where they are forced to fight each other until only one student remains. I don't know whether something is lost in the translation, or whether it is an actual weakness in the story, but I was never clear on two points: first, how is this act supposed to fix the social problems? and second, at the point the story takes place the BR Act has been in force for at least four years (there is a character who was the winner three years earlier) and yet all of the students in the class selected seem to be totally shocked by the situation, as if they had never heard of it before despite the apparent media coverage in the movie's pre-title sequence.
That being said, if you forgive those logical points and accept the situation as it is presented, this is an excellent movie. Yes, it is very violent and yes, it is violence perpetrated largely by and against fifteen and sixteen year old children. From its description it may sound like an ultra-violent exploitation film, but it is in fact a very sharp social commentary on the radically changing Japanese culture. It is first and foremost a character study. Each of the 42 students as well as the teacher (played by legendary Japanes actor Beat Takashi) are vibrant three dimensional characters. This is a class of students who have grown up together, and bring to the experience a long history of social interaction and group dynamics. Some of the students embrace the violence, while others avoid killing at any cost. The story also explores the many facets of young love - for some a giggling girlish infatuation, for some a deeply shared commitment, and for still others the pain of shy and unrequited love. Some students try to survive by acting alone or in pairs, while others form larger alliances. Some seek to find a way to beat the system and find a solution that will allow all to survive. One character has even returned to the game after winning three years earlier, in an attempt to understand the dying smile of his lost love.
In short, this is a very smartly written and well acted study of human nature in extreme situations.
The direction and cinematography is top notch, and the special effects are particularly effective. There are so many stunning bits of imagery and character vigniettes that the movie leaves you breathless.
This is a five star out of five movie. It asks you to accept an impossible premise, but once you have done that it remains so true to its own world that once the story starts rolling you are never shocked back out of it. I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
The trouble, of course, is that it has never been officially released in the United States. The copy I watched was a Region 2 PAL DVD rented from Scarecrow Video, I believe they also have several copies of the Japanes NTSC disc, but I think that is also a region 2 disk. As far as I know it is not available on VHS at all. Perhaps a region 1 disc will be made available in the future. If nothing else, the english translation of the original novel is being released in the US in April by Viz publishing. I am definitely looking forward to picking that up.
That being said, if you forgive those logical points and accept the situation as it is presented, this is an excellent movie. Yes, it is very violent and yes, it is violence perpetrated largely by and against fifteen and sixteen year old children. From its description it may sound like an ultra-violent exploitation film, but it is in fact a very sharp social commentary on the radically changing Japanese culture. It is first and foremost a character study. Each of the 42 students as well as the teacher (played by legendary Japanes actor Beat Takashi) are vibrant three dimensional characters. This is a class of students who have grown up together, and bring to the experience a long history of social interaction and group dynamics. Some of the students embrace the violence, while others avoid killing at any cost. The story also explores the many facets of young love - for some a giggling girlish infatuation, for some a deeply shared commitment, and for still others the pain of shy and unrequited love. Some students try to survive by acting alone or in pairs, while others form larger alliances. Some seek to find a way to beat the system and find a solution that will allow all to survive. One character has even returned to the game after winning three years earlier, in an attempt to understand the dying smile of his lost love.
In short, this is a very smartly written and well acted study of human nature in extreme situations.
The direction and cinematography is top notch, and the special effects are particularly effective. There are so many stunning bits of imagery and character vigniettes that the movie leaves you breathless.
This is a five star out of five movie. It asks you to accept an impossible premise, but once you have done that it remains so true to its own world that once the story starts rolling you are never shocked back out of it. I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
The trouble, of course, is that it has never been officially released in the United States. The copy I watched was a Region 2 PAL DVD rented from Scarecrow Video, I believe they also have several copies of the Japanes NTSC disc, but I think that is also a region 2 disk. As far as I know it is not available on VHS at all. Perhaps a region 1 disc will be made available in the future. If nothing else, the english translation of the original novel is being released in the US in April by Viz publishing. I am definitely looking forward to picking that up.