"Battle Royale" (2000)

(Originally released as Batoru Rowairu)

Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sousuke Takaoka

First, the lowdown: A classroom of Japanese students are sent to an island retreat, to kill each other.

This was one of a slew of movies that people kept telling me that I HAD to see (while waving their arms franticly). It was hard to look at this picture with an unbiased eye because I've had multiple people tell me about it AND I had already read a couple of reviews on it. So I'm kinda struggling hard to provide an objective POV here. I've also not read the book (or comic) that this was based off of, which I'm sure would provide with more insight here.

Here goes.

As the credits roll we're informed that in The Not-Too-Distant Future, the Japanese economy has tanked, giving them a rise of unemployment as well as juvenile delinquency. The movie opens with a swarm of news reporters converging on an area cordoned off by the military. The buzz is that the winner of the current Battle Royale competition has been found and is being brought out. A jeep pulls up from the distance and the media hounds swarm it, announcing that the winner is a girl this year. As the crowd is parted by the armed guards, we finally get a good look at our winner: a teenage girl with blood-matted hair and clothing; clutching an equally soiled stuffed rabbit, and smiling like a Japanese "oni" (demon) with braces on its teeth.

We then cut to the grouchy Sensei Kitano (played by Takeshi "Beat" Kitano with facial tick in full gear) exiting the classroom of the grade 7 school that he teaches at, only to have his leg slashed by one of the students. Soon after, we're told that he retires from teaching.

Fast-forward ahead two years. The students are now on a field trip, only to pass out on the way there. When the kids wake up, they find themselves in an abandoned classroom guarded by soldiers with machine guns as well as two new "students" of embittered mien. Shuya, one of our students, notices that they all have a silver band around their necks that they can't take off. Before having the opportunity to say "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", Sensei Kitano comes into the room and tells them the score:

Because of the disturbing trend of teenage delinquency in Japan, the Battle Royale Act has been put through parliament. A 9th-grade class is chosen by impartial lottery and sequestered to a secret location. Once there, the students have three days to fight each other to the death until there is one student left. Otherwise the EXPLOSIVE COLLARS they wear around their necks will detonate. Kitano tells them that their teacher had protested the class' selection for competition, but to no avail. To hammer that point home the students are shown the dead corpse of their instructor.

Kitano then has them watch a straightforward, but demented, orientation video (hosted by a perky spokesmodel), telling them to pay attention. One girl decides to ignore Kitano's stern admonition and whispers to her classmate, only to get a knife in her skull for her defiance. At this point the class finally comes to the mutual conclusion of "Holy shit! They're serious!" Prompting one classmate to try attacking Kitano. This gives Kitano the ability to happily demonstrate the explosive nature of the collars on Nobu, the student that had stabbed him years earlier. After Nobu's head asplodes, the class is informed that if there is more than one contestant alive after three days: EVERYONE DIES. Also, to make things interesting (and probably to keep the kids moving) "danger zones" will be chosen at random and announced at regular intervals. If a contestant is caught in a danger zone when it activates, their collar will go off. Kitano then points out that there are two new "transfer" students who will be competing with them.

The students are then given a pack containing three days worth of food and water; a map, compass, and a randomly selected weapon. Immediately after being given his pack, one of the "transfers" complains about getting the wrong one and is given a replacement one. The kids are then sent out into the night and play.

It's an incredible setup that's made all the more real by having Gen-U-Wine teens play students (as opposed to the American movie habit of having actors in their late 20s pretending that they're a Junior Varsity footballer). The scenario only ends up escalating as some students refrain from killing (either out of fear or denial) whilst others take up predatory roles all TOO readily. Cliques end up crumbling under fears of betrayal, friendships end in sweet suicide, and rivalries are taken to a monstrous extreme.

That being said, there are a few problems I had with the movie. None of the students has heard of the Battle Royale Act, which I guess is supposed to be indicative of how selfishly clueless these damn kids are these days, especially about politics that affect them. That being said, aside from a vague "separating the wheat from the chaff"-type philosophy, there isn't any OTHER explanation for WHY this act was put into place. True, Nobu's random act of violence against a teacher would be considered heinous when put into context of Japanese behavior. But it's an isolated act. One bad apple is not really indicative of the entire bunch and most of the other kids seem pretty level-headed (at least at FIRST.)

Also, no reward or goal is mentioned for the contest. There are some rumors (a kid starts blasting his schoolmates while raving about getting into a good school if he wins), but ultimately we're not told what happens to the winner. And what of the adult involvement? For an event that provoked a media frenzy over a previous winner, apparently this year's event is given sparse coverage. Personally, I thought it would've been neat if there was a betting pool or ESPN-like game reporting, etc. Sensei Kitano's involvement is also never explained at all, though you start feeling kinda sad for him toward the movie. Another interesting point that is mentioned (which supports the betting pool idea) is that of the "transfers", one is there to fix the outcome, the other is there FOR FUN. Both of which support the idea that SOMETHING COOL must happen to the winner, but we're never told WHAT if anything.

All in all, it's a great movie that doesn't pull very many punches when it comes to kids and violence. Which is something I've always wondered why American filmmakers are so squeamish about. Minors are rarely victims of violence (or perpetrators for that matter) in American cinema, yet in the "real world" the exact opposite is true. I keep hearing whatever cinema auteur blithely saying that they strive for realism in their movies, but for some reason kids have an Underage Death Exemption Card in the screen. (This is not saying that I LIKE watching kids get mutilated, butchered, etc. But there are moments in several films where American nervously shy away from a point that foreign filmmakers aren't afraid to make.)

Line of the movie: "I just didn't want to be a loser anymore" And you thought YOU were socially awkward.

Four and a half stars. For external use only.