FilmChik

My sister, who is currently living in Japan, called me on the second day she was there to let me know about “Battle Royale.” I placed it on my Netflix that same day, and waited for it to go from “Long Wait” to “Short Wait” to “Now.” Yesterday it finally arrived after waiting months for it, and having my sister pester me the entire time.

“Battle Royale,” or “Batoru Rowaiaru,” directed by Kinji Fukasaku, was adopted by Koushon Takami’s novel of the same name. It was published in April 1999 and translated to English in February 2003. If you want to read it, then you can. The film is kind of a mix between Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” and King’s “The Long Walk.” If you haven’t read either books, then I recommend for you to read them. They are as amazing as this movie.

Plot:
It is the beginning of the new millenium, and Japanese society is crumbling. The youth become more and more disallusioned, and the adults become afraid of them. In order to instill fear in the youth, the government begins the Battle Royale program. Every year a class of students is selected to participate in the government’s program. This sadistic program provides each youth, who is between the age of 14, some survival supplies (i.e. water, rations, etc), and a weapon. The weapon can range from a machine gun to a paper fan. The youth have three days to kill each other off until there is one left standing. If there is more than one person alive after that time, then the collars that each youth is wearing detonates and kills the survivors. The collars allow the military to hear their conversations, and monitor to see if they are still alive.

The movie opens up with the end of a previous program where a girl has just won. She smiles sweetly at the camera, cradling a stuffed animal, while drenched in blood. The scene changes to Shuya Nanahara, who is the main protagonist of the movie, who just discovers his father has committed suicide. We see the other main character, Noriko Nakagawa. While her peers show no respect for adults, do not attend classes, and boycott school, she continues to attend. Her teacher <16″>Kitano gets stabbed by one of the students, and she quickly hides the blade. He looks at her disappointed and never returns to school.

The class goes on a bus trip, including the boy who stabbed Kitano, where they are knocked out. Shuya wakes up momentarily, but he is quickly hit by one of the “bus drivers.” They wake up with collars around their necks and see that their old teacher Kitano is back to take care of business. By using a video, the rules of the games are explained. One by one, the youth leave to start the horrific game.

I loved this movie. It was 144 minutes, but it didn’t even feel like it was over two hours long. Even before the movie began, I was hooked. The music was so empowering that I felt my whole body tingle. The little recap as to the history of why the Battle Royale program was created was a very good way to explain what led to this program getting created, and not bore the audience. Sometimes telling rather than showing is a better way to go.

The characters, even if their role were small, were three-dimensional. I felt for each one, even if they were acting with menace. I liked how the director made sure to not make any of them, well maybe the two protagonists, angelic. It showed how humans are. We are usually not 100% good or 100% evil. We have our flaws, and the movie portrayed that. Even Kitano, the teacher, was shown to have his moments where the audience felt sympathy for him.

The movie states the adults feared the youth. You have to wonder if maybe in a way they envied them as well. Young people are carefree and are not bogged down by the worries that adults are. Then you wonder if maybe the ones that partake in this program were not better off than young people who don’t and become adults. Another theme that the movie was trying to show is that trying to instill fear in others will always backfire because sometimes that fear turns into something unexpected that will be your demise.

Definitely rent it. There is a sequel, and I am going to watch it, even if it did not get the best reviews.

5 out of 5 popcorns.

Further Reading:

• New Clash of the Titans Trailer
• Imitation of Life is My Favorite Movie Made Before I Was Born
• Every Parent Should Watch This Movie At Least Once
• Why Couldn’t They Stick to the Thumbelina Story? (rated 3 stars)
• It Wasn’t As Extreme as the Title Suggests (rated 3 stars)

Tags: film, japanese, movie