Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale (2000) is a controversial film based on a controversial novel. The Japanese are afraid of their youth and bypass an act called "Battle Royale" which allows a class of ninth graders (per year) to take a brutal challenge: kill each other off until one stands or they all will be killed. The soldiers and teachers equip them with various weapons, control them with lethal necklaces and leave them alone on a huge island for 3 days.Its premise sounds more fitting for a silly exploitation film - which it is not. Instead it is a clever social commentary on education and generational gap. It explores its premise thorougly and becomes a psychologically great examination as well - and even though most of the characters' screentime is around 2 or 3 minutes, all of them are fully developed and none of them are disposable. When this is done on an epic scale like in Battle Royale, it enables the film to explore the repressed emotions and beliefs of the youth.
Each death brings up a new perspective (or even an entirely new theme) to the film's vast content. That's how the film keeps the viewer's attention constantly occupied and the film's emotional impact is truly sad instead of being only shocking. There are a few darkly comic moments in the film, but mostly the tone is very dramatic and grim.
Trust, friendships and love are tested as friends kill each other and lovers commit suicide. The fragility of the separate groups is heartbreaking - especially in the brilliant lighthouse sequence which I consider one of the best scenes of the decade. The narrative is so meticulously constructed that it swept me in right away and almost made me completely forget about the form (which is good as well).
Fukasaku engages the rich and controversial screenplay with needed intensity and drama. He mixes classical compositions with instrumental music created for the movie to create a very dramatic musical score. It could easily lead to maudlin sentimentality, but Fukasaku employs them in the correct way to make the drama tangible. Occasional use of handheld camerawork and intensive yet precise editing patterns add to the film's strong impact on the viewer.
Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is a hard-hitting and complex film which deals with themes I hold in high regard. It makes me even more interested in the director's earlier filmography which is quite hard to obtain from anywhere.
Score: 10 out of 10
The only thing that "bothered" me about this film was the part near the end where Kitano just gets up after being shot and walks to the couch. I think there should have been just a little bit more "struggle" in this to void it from looking like a production contrivance.
ReplyDeleteTo me it seemed Fukasaku tried to add a lot of dark humor into the film, but most of it turned out to be more dramatic than funny in the end. Kitano's death is certainly one moment that stands out from the rest of the film, but I thought it fit well into the context. Whereas the students died in horrible ways, his death was more comical to reflect the different meaning (and emotional impact) of his death.
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