Could you kill your best friend? (Battle Royale (DVD))

Name: l-m-n-o-p

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Battle Royale (DVD)
Date:	13/01/07 (299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brutal, violent, satirical, shockingly funny film

Disadvantages: Plot holes, may be too disturbing for some

Location: Japan.

Time: Er… round about now, I think.

Situation: Schools are getting out of control - kids show no discipline or respect for authority, teachers are getting stabbed, and something has to be done.

Solution: Why, the only answer is to send a class of 42 teenagers to an island, give them three days and a bunch of weapons, and make them kill each other until only one is left standing. Who will be the winner? Well… society, really.

The 2000 Japanese film, Battle Royale, is a horror/thriller/action/social satire/Lord Of The Flies rip-off like none other you've seen before. It stars Count Takeshi from Takeshi's Castle (now that was a show and a half) and a bunch of Japanese teenagers, naturally (one of these is the girl who played the ball-and-chain spinning crazy schoolgirl in Kill Bill).

The film is narrated by Shuya, a boy who grew up in care after his mother left and his father committed suicide. On a school trip one day, his whole class is abducted and taken to a military-controlled island to meet Kitano, a crazy general type person (played by Takeshi). He informs them that they have been chosen to participate in a unique experiment: three days, one island, one survivor.

Further rules stipulate that each contestant is given a bag containing water, food and a random weapon (ranging from binoculars to bow and arrows, saucepan lids to shotguns). There are "danger zones" on the island, which are to be avoided at given times. Two extra students have been added to the mix: one previous winner of the game, and one who is just there for the fun of it. Oh, and all participants wear a device round their neck which will explode if they pull it off, or automatically kill everyone if three days of fighting has produced no winner.

Kitano certainly tolerates no disobedience; within the first fifteen minutes of the film a girl has been knifed in the head for whispering during a video, and a boy has had his neck exploded. This violence continues throughout the whole film, and whilst it is a very violent and shocking film, I don't think it's that gory or exploitative as films go these days. There is a fair bit of blood but in some cases it looks very fake; and otherwise it's just a lot of bullet holes, with the occasional arrow through the neck or axe to the head. But seriously, you're unlikely to faint at any point.

Most of the horror element comes from the context: kids killing each other as part of a "game" - it's a little disturbing. But Battle Royale isn't just an excuse for scenes of extreme violence; it also takes satirical swipes at the notions of school discipline and how to punish today's delinquent youth, and provides a blackly humorous version of reality TV. The film is quite ruthless in the way it counts down towards the game's finale - all the kids are assigned numbers and whenever somebody is killed, writing on the screen appears to say the number and name of the deceased, along with a countdown, e.g. "20 to go". There are some unexpected moments of humour (the explanatory video accompanying Kitano's introduction is hilarious), and the whole piece gives off a faint whiff of black comedy.

It's also surprisingly heartfelt and meaningful in places. There are scenes of bravery and heroism, including characters jumping off cliffs in protest, and the underlying message is that we need to work together or chaos will prevail. Considering that there are upwards of twenty deaths shown in this film, you might think you'd become de-sensitised and lose interest, but some of them are actually quite sad. There is also the occasional moment where the screen goes blank and white Japanese writing appears on the screen, saying little sound bites that a character is thinking. This is a bit bizarre and possibly a little pretentious, but it's quite effective. The use of majestic, sweeping classical music creates a strange atmosphere - for example the piece that's used in 2001: A Space Odyssey during that long space shuttle sequence (I'm sorry I don't know what it's called or who it's by) - that music is used here to accompany shots of tanks and militia.

Despite being assigned numbers and de-humanised by Kitano, the characters are impressively well-developed and believable - especially considering there are 42 of them! Of course not all of these are looked at, but the film does flit between the 5 or so main characters (Shuya; his (girl)friend Noriko; Kitano; the previous winner called Kawada; and a girl who seems to particularly enjoy all this killing, called Chigusa) and about fifteen other minor characters during the film. Even Kitano has his own family story. The acting from all the teenagers involved is very good and believable - quite an achievement in itself.

However, saying all this, Battle Royale isn't perfect. There are a few plot holes, especially towards the end (the whole army enforcing the game seems to disappear) and regarding a certain bomb plot (where would you happen to find bags of fertiliser on a remote island?) I found the ending a bit disappointing too, in that it was dispiritingly conventional and closed with a pretty pointless final scene. And of course, the bizarre scenario and extreme violence won't be everybody's cup of tea.

I'd heard great things about Battle Royale before I saw it so I was a little disappointed, but it was still a very good film. If you can stomach the disturbing storyline and don't mind the subtitles, watching kids kill each other is strangely exciting and enjoyable, and the film also has emotion and raises important ideas. I would recommend it - but only to the unshockable!
_____________________________________ __________________

Th e cheapest prices I could find for Battle Royale online were

£6.95 from www.dvd.co.uk or
£7.99 from www.play.com

There's also a sequel called Battle Royale II: Requiem but apparently it's not as good.

Directed By: Kinji Fukasaku

Starring:

Takeshi "Beat" Kitano … Kitano
Tatsuya Fujiwara … Shuya
Aki Maeda … Noriko
Taro Yamamoto … Kawada
Chiaki Kuriyama … Chigusa
Yukihiro Kutani … Nobu

Running Time: 114 minutes

Classification: 18 (strong bloody violence)

Year: 2000

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary: Disturbing and important Japanese action drama