Adapted from the novel by Koushun Takami, this is the story of a Japanese society that has declined to such a degree that the government passes a new and radical legislation: the Millennium Educational Reform Act – a.k.a, the Battle Royale.
With the blame for a failing social order being laid squarely on the shoulders of the youth, the legislation dictates that one class of students will be selected each year and whisked off to a small island where they are given basic provisions, a random weapon (from pot lids to shotguns), and forced to kill each other. If there is no ‘winner’ after three days, explosive collars attached to the students will detonate, killing them all.
This year’s nineth-grade class is selected and inducted into the programme, led by former teacher, Kitano (Takeshi Kitano). We then follow the films’ predominant characters of Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda) in the struggle for survival.
Director Kinji Fukasaku and BR Summary
It’s not long into BR before the viewer, along with the kidnapped classmates, is watching an introductory video on the rules and regulations of the ordeal ahead. This is delivered by a cute and chirpy presenter who gleefully elucidates that some weapons, like axes, are “Super lucky!”. This isn’t just exposition – it’s an acknowledgment of the extraordinary circumstances that we’re supposed to believe in. Even Paul Veerhoeven would be proud of this flagrant level of satire.
Beyond that, the treatment of the characters and their circumstances is followed as realistically as possible, and it’s not long before those who take an altogether more altruistic approach to survival are listed as eliminated and the rest are reduced to the desperate fight in which they’ve been thrust.
The occasional, and somewhat unrealistic, CG blood-spatter is well-suited to a film whose real thrust is its message of tyrannical adulthood versus innocent youth, rather than the violence on display, which nonetheless involves a dramatic mix of amusement and brutality.
Complementing it’s literary counterpart, Fukasaku brings a lot of energy to the film, inspired by his own experience of being drafted into WWII as a munitions worker when only 15 years old – leaving a clear distaste for decisions made by the adults in charge.
So while in terms of film-making BR is a little rough around the edges, well-known to be plagued with minor continuity errors, this was more than just another project for Fukasaku. His priorities were to capture the maddening excitement among the students, while neatly incorporating as much of their backstories as possible and ultimately showing that the basic condition of life – even after all the killing - is still benevolent.
The premise seems to have been a perfect platform then for Fukasaku, but a critical element to the film’s overall success is it’s excellent cast.
Battle Royale Cast
Unlike many Hollywood flicks where the tendency is to cast twenty-somethings as teenagers, the BR cast actually uses...teenagers. What a novel idea.
The films two leads are perfectly believable and clearly well directed, with Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda winning rookies of the year at the 2001 Japanese Academy Awards, among the impressive haul of awards that BR took.
Taro Yamamoto and Masanobu Ando as the heroic Kawada and psychotic Kiriyama are also praiseworthy, as is Kou Shibasaki as Mitsuko (one of several girls who you would not want to cross paths with). One of the few faces that may be familiar to Western audiences will be that of Chiaki Kuriyama as Chigusa, who appeared in Tarantino’s Kill Bill Pt 1 as the morning-star-wielding school girl.
Takeshi Kitano is exceptionally watchable in the only fully-fledged adult role. A hopelessly forlorn man with a serious grudge and secret affection, his final scene is one of the great character caps, distinctly touching and downright funny. Many Asian films are a goldmine for this kind of quirky.
Battle Royale: Requiem Sequal and the lost Re-make
The film’s sequel, 2003’s Battle Royale: Requiem, didn’t meet with the same success amongst critical and public review. It bravely chose not to recreate the circumstances of it’s success, instead following the initial premise to offer a social commentary on how the survivors of previous battles are now persecuted as terrorists to the state in the next generation of ‘games’.
Inevitably, having lost the sheer uniqueness and quirkiness of it’s predecessor, the film couldn’t hope to be as singularly entertaining. An important factor in that, however, would be the death of director Kinji Fukasaku, who died of prostate cancer after shooting just one scene (original source: Wikipedia). Fukasaku’s son and script-writer, Kenta, dutifully completed the film, which is still worth a watch.
There has been a long debate over New Line Cinema’s supposed re-make, and securing the rights for the project is still up in the air – which is probably a good thing.
* * * * *
So despite continuing interest in the BR premise, only the original merits our affection with it’s bizarre uniqueness, terrific cast and supporting crew, including a soundtrack by Masamichi Oshima that brilliantly uses classical music, with Verdi’s ‘Des Irae’ being the film’s main theme.
In running with the premise, it’s only a shame that the survivability of the characters is a somewhat predictable outcome, as opposed to presenting us with a real ensemble to keep us guessing. Still, this a rare breed of film, well worth the attention of entertainment-seekers and more studious watchers alike.
- Producer: Kinji Fukasaku, Kenta Fukasaku, Kimio Kataoka, Chie Kobayashi, Toshio Nabeshima, Masumi Okada
- Director: Kinji Fukasaku
- Screenplay: Kenta Fukasaku
- Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Takeshi Kitano, Taro Yamamoto
- Released: December 2000 (Japan) by Toei
- Running Time: 110 mins approx
