By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Aki Maeda | Masanobu Andô | Takeshi Kitano | Taro Yamamoto | Tatsuya Fujiwara
Original language title: Batoru rowaiaru
Country: japan
Year: 2002
Running time: 114
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0266308
Ivy says: “I dont know how many of you know about this film, or have already watched it, but I just watched the tape of BATTLE ROYALE (copied from a Japanese DVD) that was given to us months ago by a friend. And I am so glad that I did!!! You have probably heard about this film in some manner because it has been on the buzz list since it was released in Japan, I think a few years ago now, though the buzz has quieted down in the states now that US distribution looks unlikely.
“The basic storyline: set in the near future (in fact it seems to be a Millennium film) where the youth have actively started protesting against society, refusing to go to school, etc. In response, the adults pass the Battle Royale Act which selects one 9th grade class every year through lottery, places the entire class on a deserted island, and creates a violent competition where only one student can be left alive or the entire class will be killed at the end of three days.
“Sounds unlikely and farfetched, but the film really is just dramatizing the place that the social or power structure can go if they loose the ability to figure out how to deal with an issue although there are no obvious political overtones, when you start grappling with what you would do in the situation, it becomes an interesting internal and personal experience.
“Due to all of the controversy and the basic plot line of the film, and what I know the Japanese can do with horror, I expected a really hardcore, mean-spirited film. But the film doesn’t really end up being about the nasty, dark things that humans are capable of. Thank goodness, it isn’t The Lord of the Flies a book that I was never able to finish due to it’s dark side, and therefore a film I didn’t see either. It’s about survival, and what different kinds of people will do in such an extreme situation. The film actually makes a significant amount of effort to show less rather than more of the violence in the film. That doesn’t mean that you don’t see hatchets in heads, and there is a fair amount of squirting blood from new wounds and some heads explode.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about the film since I saw it on Sunday, I just want to watch it again and again! Takeshi Kitano, plays the ex-teacher/competition organizer who announces deaths every 6 hours over an island-wide loud speaker. The production value is high, with great cinematography, lighting, and a very interesting sound track full of classical music which creates a nice juxtaposition.
“There have been HUGE problems with the film getting US distribution because the Japanese producers want the film to be a wide release like it was in Japan, playing in malls and multiplexes, etc, but dont want the film cut in order to do this, and the only distributors who will release it uncut are smaller, art distributors and thats not what the producers want. So I dont know that it will ever get into a US theater, though if so we will be fighting for it to play at the Brattle!
” Anyway, I do have a video of this film if anyone is dying to see it or curious. It would be much better on screen, but alas…”
Clinton in response to Ivy: “I have actually contacted the producers about bringing the film to Boston, but they won’t play it in the US. They are afraid that the film will inspire a rash of angry lawsuits that they simply don’t want to deal with. Sure, it was one of the biggest summer hits in Japan a year ago, but the culture clash is just too great on this one. Children killing children?! That’s all anyone would say about this one, and never even watch it.
“Anyway, I agree with Ivy. An excellent film, really, with a lot of strange heart to it. And, c’mon, watching kids kill kids is fun. Why do you think Lord of the Flies keeps getting remade.”