Battle Royale: Director's Cut (Collector's Edition)

No matter what critics say about its violence Battle Royale is really a story about character. Based on the novel by Takami Koshun, Battle Royale is provocative on many. One way to see the movie is in terms of a not so distant future Japan (which is this case can stand in as a metaphor to other countries) where the government's trepidation about rampant juvenile delinquency and the a lost generation's blatant disregard for order and the rule of law has caused it seek more immediate and less creative ways to deal with the problem, the solution: the systematic annihilation of teenagers. In this case, selected groups of high school kids are deceived and carted of to an undisclosed location, given weapons and supplies and a mission - to kill each other. In an orgy of blood and gore the last person standing is allowed to go home. This, at least for me, brings up two very difficult questions: Is it a story about extermination or discipline? If it is, what possible benefit can be derived from this?

Returning quickly to the issue of "character," it is interesting to see how director Kinji Fukasaku and writer Kenta Fukasuka bring Takami Koshun's novel to the screen. It is also interesting to see how director Fukasaku controls a herd of cats in a powerhouse cast of 40+ characters that includes Beat Takeshi's rendition of Kitano as well as the portrayal of Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Noriko (Aki Maeda), Shougo (Taro Yamamoto), Kazou (Masanobu Ando), Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) and Takako (by Kill Bill's Chiaki Kuriyama). I was intrigued to seeing how some of the characters reacted to stressful situations that in some places (unless you watch the film at least twice) are lost around the films central motif of extreme ruthlessness and violence.

Needless to say that despite the films wicked cinematography and primitivistic tendencies - it being set in a tropical island and all - not to mention the almost mandatory erotic undertones, it is more than anything, a movie about a society on the verge of imploding. It is noted that Fukasaku's motivations for making the movie transcend politics and society. Dilemma: if your survival rested on you killing your best friends, would you do it? This is the circumstance in Battle Royale and it is a very provocative one. This brutal premise and what happens next is inevitably - a very cruel film. Fukasaku rendition has a Lord of the Fliesesque quality about it. I cannot stress how great a movie this is though. Overall, this is one of the most thought provoking, disturbing, and powerful films released. I was not surprised that this film has not been released in the US but just like the saga of "RINGU" - my guess is that inevitably this film will be hijacked as well - it is the Hollywood way.

Another "layer" to be uncovered from this blood-soaked saga is how Fukasaku calls to question a Japanese society whose rage over youth delinquency (as mentioned previously) and has gone so far to imagine a `final solution.' If it was Fukasaku's intent, it got me thinking that if such a solution were put in place the results would be a fight to the death will be a traumatized, angry and extremely mentally agile mind would be released back on society - making the problem doubly worse - as if the society is cultivating violence. In Battle Royale Fukasaku is thought provoking again in that he allows for pockets of resistance and moments of female empowerment. The sub-plot of hacking in to the system and destroying the whole game and the scenes with Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) although not unique add a particular liberating quality to the film. However there still is lingering the disturbing theme of Battle Royale, dealing as it does with the corollary of a system of violence transferred from generation to generation thus perpetuating a cycle of violence. In the end, the hub of the Battle Royale films is that violence without doubt impacts children. Is this what we want as a future for them? A wild, sexy, and thought provoking film that begs to be watched more than one time to be fully appreciated.

Miguel Llora

Oh, and if you go out and see the new Tarantino movie, KILL BILL, the actress that plays Liu's bodyguard is one of the kids from Battle Royale.
Buy this movie. I can't stress it enough.