Lord of the Flies (Sponsored by Nintendo) (Battle Royale (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	Battle Royale (DVD)
Date:	15/02/02 (722 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, superb satire

Disadvantages: Bad, bad taste

Japan has always been a conservative, male-dominated and conformist society, but if you judge the culture by the movies that have made a big impact in the West over the last couple of years, they're obviously starting to worry that the collapse of the might economy, a generation of kids seduced by western movies and pop music and questions over the role of the monarchy might spell the end of stability. 'Audition' is a brilliant evocation of the middle-class, middle-aged Japanese male under siege, but in Kinji Fukasaku's 'Battle Royale', the whole world's going down the pan.

The Battle Royale Act is passed in Japan just after the turn of the Millenium, where rioting teenagers have the nation in a panic. In order to force a bit of discipline into the little blighters, every year an entire class is picked at random, deposited on an island, and told to wipe each other out in the next three days. And at the end of that, if there is more than one survivor, they all die. If they misbehave, they die. And of course, they're all given weapons, so whatever happens, they all die.

I can't imagine this is a movie ever likely to get a wide release in the USA, as the schoolkids are already gunning each other down for real, but I was surprised by how popular and successful 'Battle Royale' was in UK cinemas last year. I suppose it comes down to the fact that 'Lord of the Flies', the book upon which this movie is more or less based, is taught in GCSE classrooms. It is massively, savagely violent - dressed in their twee little uniforms, the class of 42 schoolkids rip each other to bloody shreds using knives, sickles, and of course, machine pistols. Unlike most UK and US movies involving teenagers, these kids really do look like 15 and 16 year olds - one minute they're squabbling over crushes and cookies, the next minute they're slitting each other's throats in full colour.

If ultra-violence isn&#
39;t enough to put you off, the tone of this insanely grim satire might do for you instead. From the beginning, it's a playful, sardonic movie, full of nasty little jokes and routines. Throughout, Fukasaku makes ironic use of classical music to undercut the tragedy (one of the teacher's six-hourly updates on who has been killed is backed up by 'The Blue Danube'), and he's completely callous about the horrendous body count. The film has a lot of similarities with 'A Clockwork Orange', as it equates the stupid, thoughtless criminality of renegade kids with the monolithic cruelty of the state's reaction, but whereas Kubrick was cold and detached, Fukasaku directs the growing mayhem like an action film, with slow-motion, spurting blood and one-liners.

I'm not selling this very well, am I? I actually think that 'Battle Royale' is one of the most interesting and exciting films to be released in the UK last year - it's just that I won't pretend it's safe or easy to watch. Fukasaku knows that violence is exciting and enticing, that's part of the point. The central plank of William Golding's manifesto in 'Lord of the Flies' is that if you take people out of civilisation, you take civilisation out of people; this is what 'Battle Royale' wants to say, but it's not softly spoken like Golding, but grabs you and rubs your nose in the idea.

While some of the characters grip their humanity tight and never let go (the heroes Nanahara and Noriko), many of the other kids are all too eager to start shooting and stabbing their way to survival. In many ways, the opening segment is the hardest to watch, as the jokes come thick and fast, and the cruelty of the situation is emphasized. The rules of the game are explained in a video hosted by a squeaky voiced bimbo who makes the situation seem like a game show, and indeed the perfunctory nature of the ceaseless killing is deliberately made t
o seem like a video game (scores flash up after each death, telling you how many 'contestants' are left). The film's cynicism is obvious in a scene where five girls who have survived by working together end up blowing each other to pieces because one of them is unable to trust someone else - the self-sustaining alliance is broken up in minutes.

As the film progresses, the action increasingly centres on the sympathetic characters who refuse to get involved in killing, and thus, becomes easier to watch. By the end, the emphasis has shifted entirely to a more optimistic sense that there will always be people who are solid, decent and dependable, no matter what the circumstances.

There are nagging doubts. Though the conclusion implies hope for the young generation, the film's structure and action definitely implies that the youth of Japan are something that the adults cannot control or understand - put another way, that maybe Japanese society really does have something to fear from the children, just like the fascists seem to think in the movie. There's a similar sense of this in 'Audition', which seeks to satirise male insecurities, and yet implies that they're justified.

But in the end, 'Battle Royale' doesn't want to kick depressed audiences in the guts, and the conclusion is generally quite optimistic about humanity. But you have to be prepared for a wild and deeply subversive ride through some very dodgy territory before you get there. Be warned, this is an exceptionally dark and occasionally unpleasant film that pulls absolutely no punches and makes few concessions to subtlety or good taste. There will be no Oscars for 'Battle Royale', but if you can take it, it's a classic.

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