Wow what a fucked up film! This movie had been on my must watch list for some time, but since it’s release back in 2000 up until now it has been incredibly hard to get a hold of. Ben and I just happened to come across it in the local video store on DVD and couldn’t forgive ourselves for walking out of there without it. This film is insanely violent and incredibly disturbing, and the more I try I just can’t seem to get this puppy out of my head. I think it’s branded itself on my brain for all eternity. Why? Well that’s a good question. I’m a gal with over 200 horror flicks in my collection. I started watching (and getting desensitised to) these kinds of film at an early age. But I assure you. Never in my life have I seen anything as brutal and terrible as this film. But that sick part of me loved it. And yes, I’ll watch it again.

"At the dawn of the Millennium, the nation collapsed. At 15% unemployment, 10 million were out of work, 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the 'Millennium Educational Reform Act'...AKA: The BR Act." - opening graphics introduction to Battle Royale. As the opening text suggests, Japan is screwed at the dawn of the 2000, and the kids have gone crazy. They don’t go to school, they don’t respect their elders, they are nothing but trouble. So the adults get together and formulate the Battle Royale act, which basically states that each year they can kidnap a random class full of ninth grade students, put them on an island and give them three days to kill each other. Whoever is left is the winner and gets to go home. Pretty screwed up right? That’ll put the fear and respect right back in em!

They start out thinking they are heading off on a school field trip, but are actually being drugged and carted off to an island, where they will be equipped with collars – these collars tell the BR operatives of the wearers location on the island and whether they are still alive or not. They also contain a microphone which can monitor their conversations, and if tampered with in any way, will explode, killing the wearer. They can also be detonated by remote control. If the wearer is being troublesome, or has lingered in the danger zones set up on the island for a while or so, kablammo! Dead as a doornail. Gruesome indeed. After watching a laughable instruction video on the principles of Battle Royale, the students are sent out onto the island with a backpack which contains food, water and a weapon of some sort. Weapons are totally random – one could wind up with an Uzi, or perhaps even a paper fan.

It’s really kind of hard to focus on characters as there are so many (some are looked into more than others) and at times I felt myself getting confused over who was who, but by the end of the film I think I had it down. And their stories are quite erratic and all over the place, everyone seems to have a crush on someone, who in turn has a crush on someone else, and then one of those people dies! It’s crazy!! The story does tend to focus a little more on Shuya Nanahara, and Noriko Nakagawa, two of class B’s students. After the death of his best friend Yoshitoki Kuninobu early on in the film, Shuya vows to protect Noriko (the girl his best friend had a crush on – and the girl he is developing a crush on himself) at any cost. They find protection in the form of “transfer student” Shougo Kawada (a survivor of a previous Battle Royale) who tells them he knows how to beat the system. But the odds of survival for the three are grim with students dropping like flies and the likes of Kazuo Kiriyama (the other “transfer student” who apparently just signed up for fun) running round the island with the majority of all the dead kids weaponry. There’s also the classes queen heartless bitch Mitsuko Soma, slitting throats with her sickle, so the goings tough for our young lovebirds. But besides the point, how can they both live when only one can be the survivor?

Apart from being unbelievably brutal, the film took a strange look into the human psyche also, the way that behaviour changes when lives are threatened, and how quickly friendships disappear. A good example of this is shown by the lighthouse girls. All running around joking and being friendly with one another, cooking dinner, cleaning tables and generally looking very at peace and at home with one another. They looked like they trusted one another. However after another five minutes have passed all the girls are dead. Killed by each other. Nope its seems everything was not as okay as they led themselves to believe and as soon as there was the tiniest bit of doubt between them, guns were fired and all lives taken. Grizzly, but that’s human nature. Kill or be killed. We are animals after all.

Battle Royale is a film that gets better each time you watch it. You pick up things you missed the last time. You begin to understand the characters, their motives and their stories a lot more. It is cleverly written, beautifully shot and very graphically violent, so if you’re into that kind of thing I would suggest kicking your own arse if you miss out on seeing this movie. If you don’t think you can handle lots of blood, and seeing a bunch of 15 year old school kids kill each other, give it a miss.

Personally, I found it to be extremely entertaining whilst still being daring enough to make me feel ill at ease. It’s very rare that I can find a film with the power to do that. The movie was based on a book by Koushun Takami. Funnily enough  Battle Royale has not been offered for distribution in the United States by the Toei Company due to unknown reasons. It is also never likely to be sold there.