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| A poster for Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale |
QUICK REVIEW:
Japanese society has hit a breaking point, and a new division between youths and adults has been established. On a deserted island, the state carries out its 'battle royale'-reform: 42 juveniles are equipped with weapons and neck collars. The only rule: Kill or be killed.
BR is a cool power-movie; very strong, disturbing and entertaining, and difficult to relate to: What does it all mean, (if anything), was my response, as I sat through the mayhem. Subsequently I have read that it is a kind of allegory over the transition from educational life to the brutal realities of the Japanese career world.
BR is a complicated film to understand, - perhaps especially for non-Japanese, - and it both seems to say that life is a game in which only the most ruthless wins; while at the same time it presents this fact sentimentally, e.g. with its bizarre use of classical music.
The film has been banned in many countries and was extremely controversial at its outset for these reasons. It is highly ambiguous and difficult to decipher, and many have consequently called it an aestheticizing of violence and death or worse. It is a fact that youth, - and Japanese culture, - has an often complex play with death based on a fascination that can be problematic, and BR lies surely in this vein.
The film stars Takeshi Kitano and is directed by Kinji Fukasaku (The Rage of Love (1988)), who died of prostate cancer while filming the 2003 sequel, which his son then finished.
Battle Royale is iconographic, morally reprehensible and very skilfully made. It is a highly engaging experience.
Watch the recent Blu-ray release trailer here
Budget: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: 25 mil. $ (only Japan)
= Huge hit
What do you think of Battle Royale?
Do you think it glorifies violence and murder?
Why/why not?
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