Students are forced to kill each other by law in this Asian Extreme cult classic par excellence, still as provocative more than 20 years on in its themes about youth, rebellion and authoritarianism.
Review #2,628
Dir. Kinji Fukasaku
2000 | Japan | Drama, Thriller | 113 min | 1.85:1 | Japanese
R21 (passed clean) for strong violence
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Takeshi Kitano, Taro Yamamoto, Masanobu Ando
Plot: In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary “Battle Royale” act.
Awards: Official Selection (Rotterdam)
Source: Toho
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Mature – Authoritarianism; Youth & Rebellion; Morality of Legalised Murder
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Cult Mainstream
Viewed: Oldham Theatre (as part of ‘Coming of Rage’ programme by Asian Film Archive)
Spoilers: No
In what would be his final film as director, Kinji Fukasaku (known for his Battles Without Honor and Humanity series of films in the early 1980s) has fashioned in Battle Royale one of the most notorious films of modern Japanese cinema.
For more than 20 years, it has been regarded as an Asian Extreme cult classic par excellence, receiving either very restrictive ratings in numerous countries or outright bans.
Seeing it for the first time in a new 4K restoration on the big screen, I must say it was an experience both gleeful and thought-provoking.
A class of students has been randomly selected by the government and taken to a deserted island where they are forced to kill each other by law. The last one to survive will live on to tell the tale, or maybe everyone will die—nobody is certain, least of all the audience, where we are taken for a bloody ride.
“What’s wrong with killing? Everyone’s got their reasons.”
As perverse as the ‘Battle Royale Act’ is, the grown-ups have good reason to do so: Japanese youth have been way too rebellious and society is crumbling due to uncontrollable unemployment. A dose of ultraviolence may be what’s needed to rein everyone in.
A cautionary tale on authoritarianism, Battle Royale may be brutal and bloody but there is a tone of playfulness underscoring it—it’s perfectly fine to enjoy the catharsis it brings as young people kill each other in creative ways.
This enjoyment is none more legitimised by its conspicuous use of a setlist of classical music (Bach, Strauss, Verdi, you name it) to provide a counterpoint to the absurdity of it all.
There are certainly cult films much more violent and gory than Battle Royale despite its reputation, so don’t let it dissuade you from seeing it. Sometimes being able to appreciate some level of irony and moral transgression can open new ways of contemplating the world.
Grade: A
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 
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