Battle RoyaleA "battle royal" is a fight involving a group of people, and the winner is determined by the last one standing. As no one person could hope to win against all opponents with those odds, this necessitates more than skill to survive; it requires anything from ingenuity, resourcefulness, deception, teamwork...really anything that will give you an edge. The same principle applies to the competitive arena that awaits youth on the verge of adulthood, forced to capitalize on every advantage to excel, standing on the threshold of their future. This is the larger lesson in Battle Royale.
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When a class of forty-two ninth grade students discover that their presumed class trip has been rerouted to a deserted island by their former teacher, Kitano (Takeshi Kitano), so that they are forced to participate in the Battle Royale deathmatch, their lives are turned upside down, confronted with the edict that only one will survive during the three day time limit. In order to survive, the other students must die, or at the end of the three days, all of the survivors will be killed. The "BR Act", which mandates these events, and are enforced by the government, chooses classes presumably at random. The opening of the film lays the groundwork of this dystopian future, one where the state of the nation is in critical decline, with massive unemployment being an earmark for a system mishandled by the establishment, spiraling down. The BR Act was a response by the government following the mass exodus of disgruntled students from schools, evidently recognizing the writing on the wall. In essence, the BR Act is an extreme form of both retaliation and discipline, administered by this society's elders to maintain their twisted sense of order, operating as a perverse kind of parent state--in so many interpretations. This sentiment overshadows the whole of Battle Royale, underscoring the tyranny and paranoia of the government and older generation in contrast to the comparative innocence and optimism of youth. The older generation uses the Battle Royale to strip away these childish sentiments, assimilating them and purging those not fully committed to their twisted form of parentage and administration. The BR Act exemplifies the fear of a generation in decline, aware that its relevance is over, and that the world will belong to the children who they have failed in their responsibility to make the world a better place, and their subsequent denial to own that responsibility. They deflect the blame back on their perceived enemies--their children--treating them as disposable rather than face humiliation. It is ironic that Battle Royale opens with a warning that audiences under the age of fifteen--the same age as the children in the film--should see it with a guardian, underscoring the existence of parental dominion outside the context of the movie.
Kitano claims that "life is a game, so fight for survival and see if you're worth it"; but in reality, Kitano has only been co-opted by the government to operate as a cog in their machine. He had been Class B's teacher two years prior, even wounded by one of the students running amok; but with the exception of the sweet girl, Noriko (Aki Maeda), one senses he really doesn't like the other students much, or resents them for any number of reasons. When the teenagers awaken in the decommissioned school on the island, Kitano commands them as though they were back in school, throwing chalk (or worse) to chastise whisperers, demanding attention when he plays an introductory video presentation on a television wheeled in, complete with an overly bubbly (and thus, inappropriate) host, before turning them loose on the island and one another. While Kitano stays in the Battle Royale headquarters, randomly assigning danger zones like homework, the other children begin their fight for survival in earnest. The behaviors of the students are themselves a microcosm of society, and how people react when faced with a desperate crisis. Some people form up in small groups for security, others rise up to fight the system in rebellion. Some try to destroy themselves rather than participate in an insane event, and others lose themselves in the bloodlust and find themselves eerily adept at killing. These reactions suggest that how the children react to such a devastating situation reveals their true selves, and forces them to accept these aspects to better survive. This manufactured calamity forces the children to abandon their youth, jump starting their adulthood.
Shocked after the senseless death of his friend, Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) crosses paths early with Noriko, and their trust for one another circumvents the imposed sanction that they should kill one another for their own survival, although they still have to contend with other students, many of which are all too eager to use deadly force if it means sparing their own necks. Each student is provided a knapsack containing food and water, but also a random weapon, each of which varies in usefulness. The variety and mystery of these implements recalls a classic brain teaser--the kind administered in school--where a variety of different implements must be ranked in order of importance should one be stranded on a deserted island, as some are more useful than others depending on the circumstances. It also represents that in life, as in any competition, the scales are not always evenly balanced, and one must both take advantage of the opportunities and overcome the difficulties to succeed. As each student dies, a subtitle observes their demise, and how many students remain alive as a result, a morbid scoreboard ultimately for the viewer's benefit. The large cast of teenagers are picked off with varying degrees of speed, and emphasizes the urgency and grimness of the event. Often times, we are introduced to a new character--or clique of them--only to have them suddenly snuffed out, sometimes with a revelation (and occasional flashback) to give us insight into the lives of these people--lives systematically cut short by their peers, and by the system which encourages selfish opportunism in order to triumph. Battle Royale is as much a horror film as it is a satire of a society driven by competition and excelling at the expense of others. It is a reflection of the ultra-competitive academic scene for students--especially in Japan--where their performance as an adolescent is under constant surveillance, and each choice is critical, sometimes perceived as a matter of life and death. The result is harrowing, especially at a stage in people's lives when they are just discovering who they are, if they have any idea at all, and are pressured to the extreme to make life-impacting decisions in an abysmally small amount of time. And what Battle Royale also implies is that such behavior--in any world--is itself a kind of child abuse, and reflects a social psychosis which values achievement over humanity.
Recommended for: Fans of an action movie which is also a social commentary about how the world treats its children, and when the concept of parental and government dominion goes too far.
Kitano claims that "life is a game, so fight for survival and see if you're worth it"; but in reality, Kitano has only been co-opted by the government to operate as a cog in their machine. He had been Class B's teacher two years prior, even wounded by one of the students running amok; but with the exception of the sweet girl, Noriko (Aki Maeda), one senses he really doesn't like the other students much, or resents them for any number of reasons. When the teenagers awaken in the decommissioned school on the island, Kitano commands them as though they were back in school, throwing chalk (or worse) to chastise whisperers, demanding attention when he plays an introductory video presentation on a television wheeled in, complete with an overly bubbly (and thus, inappropriate) host, before turning them loose on the island and one another. While Kitano stays in the Battle Royale headquarters, randomly assigning danger zones like homework, the other children begin their fight for survival in earnest. The behaviors of the students are themselves a microcosm of society, and how people react when faced with a desperate crisis. Some people form up in small groups for security, others rise up to fight the system in rebellion. Some try to destroy themselves rather than participate in an insane event, and others lose themselves in the bloodlust and find themselves eerily adept at killing. These reactions suggest that how the children react to such a devastating situation reveals their true selves, and forces them to accept these aspects to better survive. This manufactured calamity forces the children to abandon their youth, jump starting their adulthood.
Shocked after the senseless death of his friend, Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) crosses paths early with Noriko, and their trust for one another circumvents the imposed sanction that they should kill one another for their own survival, although they still have to contend with other students, many of which are all too eager to use deadly force if it means sparing their own necks. Each student is provided a knapsack containing food and water, but also a random weapon, each of which varies in usefulness. The variety and mystery of these implements recalls a classic brain teaser--the kind administered in school--where a variety of different implements must be ranked in order of importance should one be stranded on a deserted island, as some are more useful than others depending on the circumstances. It also represents that in life, as in any competition, the scales are not always evenly balanced, and one must both take advantage of the opportunities and overcome the difficulties to succeed. As each student dies, a subtitle observes their demise, and how many students remain alive as a result, a morbid scoreboard ultimately for the viewer's benefit. The large cast of teenagers are picked off with varying degrees of speed, and emphasizes the urgency and grimness of the event. Often times, we are introduced to a new character--or clique of them--only to have them suddenly snuffed out, sometimes with a revelation (and occasional flashback) to give us insight into the lives of these people--lives systematically cut short by their peers, and by the system which encourages selfish opportunism in order to triumph. Battle Royale is as much a horror film as it is a satire of a society driven by competition and excelling at the expense of others. It is a reflection of the ultra-competitive academic scene for students--especially in Japan--where their performance as an adolescent is under constant surveillance, and each choice is critical, sometimes perceived as a matter of life and death. The result is harrowing, especially at a stage in people's lives when they are just discovering who they are, if they have any idea at all, and are pressured to the extreme to make life-impacting decisions in an abysmally small amount of time. And what Battle Royale also implies is that such behavior--in any world--is itself a kind of child abuse, and reflects a social psychosis which values achievement over humanity.
Recommended for: Fans of an action movie which is also a social commentary about how the world treats its children, and when the concept of parental and government dominion goes too far.