BATTLE ROYALE

Japan, 2000, 115 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

Battle Royale is a drama about a futuristic Japanese society. Laws have been passed to control children, especially those of school-age. A system has been set up, Battle Royale, whereby children, supervised, have to fight each to the death. The film opens with acclamation for a young girl who has survived such a battle. the film also opens with some hard sequences, especially a young boy coming home to find that his father has hanged himself. There is also a sequence with teacher tries to control his class, but is wounded by a student with a knife, resigns and disappears from the school. The atmosphere is one of chaos.

The presence of Takeshi Kitano as the schoolteacher gives an indication about the treatment of the topic, direct, quite violent and in thematic and visual terms with the touch of satiric comment about society.

Most of the film is a graphic presentation of a Japanese version of The Hunger Games, where every child is given a number, equipment and weapons to survive, and each child has a neck brace which indicates to the authorities where the child is – with the information that if the child defies authorities, the neck brace can be exploded

It is Kitani who is the supervising teacher. It seems to give him the opportunity for some kind of vengeance against the students. They are taken by bus to an isolated island, drugged, awakening to find themselves with the neck brace, some instantly rebellious and killed. Many of the students are friends and embrace before the games but soon they are all. Information and details of eliminations are posted and the whole process is to last three days until only one student is left.

The bulk of the film has the students tracking each other, assaulting each other, trying to evade being killed, brutally slain, moments of betrayal, some touches of heroism, but a growing death list.

At the end, three students do survive with their own dreams, visualised. Kitano is present at the end of the games but it is attacked and killed. The film is a challenge to Japanese audiences about their and society, the role of children, education, discipline, means of control – and enacting of brutal laws in fascist future. The film was so successful that a sequel ensued, Battle Royale II.