WARNING: Subject matter may not be suitable for all readers

            The Japanese like breaking the rules and breaking boundaries when it comes to movie making. A lot of times they like exploring what we consider mature-level themes in children’s animation shows. They also like to up the notch in violence in their theatrical releases. Well, there’s this certain movie that turns the notch up in the violence knob so much that it snaps off. This certain movie also explores very explicit themes involving high school students, an area where a lot of American filmmakers tend to see as taboo. This movie, ladies and gentlemen, is called Battle Royale.

Kinji Fukasaku, who is also the head of the Director’s Guild in Japan since 1996 (www.imdb.com), directs Battle Royale. He went on to direct the sequel Battle Royale II, which wasn’t appreciated as much, let alone liked at all (I personally didn’t care for it). Regardless of the bad sequel, Battle Royale is awesome. Headlining the cast is none other than famous Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano, also known as “Beat” Takeshi. Takeshi actually has a movie that he acted and directed in and was released in America. It’s called Brother, and it co-stars Omar Epps. Takeshi is famous for directing and acting in his own movies, just like Mel Gibson. Just about every movie that “Beat” Takeshi has taken part in is well loved by fans and movie watchers. The movie also stars hottie Chiaka Kuriyama, whose legions of fanboys grow day by day all thanks to her appearance as the assassin Gogo in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1. Actually, Kill Bill has a lot of its roots of inspiration from Battle Royale.

            Let’s get down to the story of Battle Royale.

            Imagine and Japan in an alternate and distorted state. It’s the same Japan as present day, but very dark and bleak. The youth of present day have become very violent and uncontrollable. So, the adults of the world have passed this law called the BR Act. What the BR Act is basically is every year the government selects a 9^th grade class from one of the many schools in Japan. The chosen class has to partake in The Program, or Battle Royale. It’s a televised production where every student is put in a life and death battle for survival. The Program doesn’t end until there is one student left standing.

            The story focuses on the life of Shuya, his best friend Yoshi, and their friend female friend Noriko. Their class happens to be the unlucky class chosen this year. They were in fact nominated by one of their former teachers, Kitano-sensei (sensei means teacher in Japanese), who is played by “Beat” Takeshi. Kitano volunteers their class mainly because of an incident involving Yoshi stabbing him in the leg the year before.

            The horror starts with Shuya’s class in a bus going on a school trip. All of them are happy as high school students can get. The mood changes when Shuya wakes up from his nap to discover his fellow classmates all fast asleep. It might seem normal for that to happen on a long field trip, but what isn’t normal are the strange people walking around the bus wearing gas masks and keeping watch. Shuya notices that they are driving into some kind of military base and then realizes that they have been kidnapped. In a panic, he tries to make a break for it, but is stopped short in his tracks by the men in gas masks, who knock him unconscious.

            The whole class wakes up in an abandoned school in the middle of an abandoned village. They are all surprised to see that each one of them is wearing strange dog collar-like neck braces. Upon wakening, the military march loudly into the room along with Kitano-sensei, who reveals to them that they will participate in The Program. What I thought was the craziest part in this whole section was the fact that they have notified every single one of their parents, who all approved of their participation. Isn’t that nuts?

    Well, Yoshi hates the idea that their class, every single one of them friends, are being forced to participate in the bloodbath. He lashes out at Kitano-sensei, but is taken down by the soldiers who are keeping guard. The old teacher then pulls out a strange remote from his pocket, aims at Yoshi, and presses the button. A red light starts blinking from his collar. Kitano-sensei reveals apathetically that with the push of the button, the collar will explode in a few seconds. Yoshi, unable to believe what is happening, runs around the classroom of 42 students, frantically trying to get someone to help him. Unfortunately, his classmates also panic at his confused frenzy and push him away, trying to get away from the explosion. In his last moment of breathing, Yoshi stops in front of Shuya with a desperate cry for help. Shuya, as confused as everyone else, stood frozen in his place as the collar stopped blinking and exploded, crushing Yoshi’s throat and spraying blood everywhere. Upon witnessing this horrifying turn of events, all the students try to run, but are stopped by gunfire from the soldiers. Kitano-sensei reveals that the same fate could belong to anyone there if they don’t simmer down and listen to what he has to say.

            Kitano-sensei reveals what’s happening. He turns on a television screen, and a cute, high-energetic girl in her mid-twenties pops on the screen. In the cutest voice imaginable, she lays down the rules of the deadly game of death they are about to venture into. Each student will receive an army bag containing food, water, a map, and a random weapon. The weapon could be anything from a machine gun to a trash can lid. It’s the ultimate battle of survival. The rules get heavier when she describes the importance of the map. Every few hours, different zones marked on the map will be marked as danger zones. If any of the students get caught in a danger zone at any given time, their collar would explode just like Yoshi’s. The purpose of this is to prevent anyone from hiding the whole entire time the game is in session, and also so that the remaining survivors would meet in a bloodbath of death for the final fight.

            Everyone is given their bags, including Shuya and Noriko. He meets her outside and tells her he has faith that nobody will turn against his or her friends; nobody will play this game. His word run dry when an arrow comes flying at him but misses. The game has started! His attacker reveals that all he wants to do is go home and wake up from his horror. In order to do that, he is prepared to take down all his classmates. And so the movie truly begins from there. Shuya is running around trying to rally everyone together and form an alliance, but he finds it almost impossible to do so with everyone so willing to kill each other. Some are doing it do go home, some are doing it for fun, and some are doing because they hate someone. The violent battle known as Battle Royale surges on.

            As you can tell, Battle Royale is one of the most graphic and violent movies to ever hit the silver screen. This movie combines the best elements from movies of the horror, action, drama, and psychological suspense genres. Also, the movie has a lot of philosophical themes. In the midst of a psychotic and sadistic movie, one wouldn’t really expect there to be deeper themes involved.

            The movie plays on how much humans love to see fights and violence. Since The Program is televised and sponsored by the government, not to mention watched and loved by the people of Japan, it really explores the deepest and darkest pit of that passion. It makes you think about what if extreme violence was regarded as a good thing? What if man’s craving for bloodlust will take us far so that one day we’ll have reality television shows showing death. The movie shows this desire at its worst.

            Battle Royale also explores the themes of real friendship and brotherhood. In other words, who is a real friend and who will turn their back against you to save their own skin? A lot of characters come up to Shuya like their scared and they say they’re all for forming an alliance with him. Before you know it, they turn around and betray him after realizing the only way off The Program is to be the last one surviving. They only see the easy way out and their own well-being rather than the survival of the ones they care for. Again, another of man’s natures exploited at its worst.

            Another theme they distort to the extreme is the relationship between kids and adults. When we were all younger, we always held the Peter Pan view that adults were the bad guys and that we would do all we can do stay kids forever. In Battle Royale, that view is kept strongly, without the whole staying-kids-forever part obviously. In the Japan of Battle Royale, the youth constantly rebel against the adults. To retort, the adults do what any other adult would do to a bad kid: punish them. Of course, in the movie, it’s pushed to the outer limits. The whole BR Act is a twisted and extreme way to punish bad kids. The adults manipulate the kids into fighting and killing each other instead, resulting in the decrease of population of bad kids and also emphasizing the evil of adults. In the real world, the kids eventually grow to be adults, whether they like it or not. In the movie, they get a taste of what it’s like to be an adult: being in the midst of the battlefield and killing enemies on sight. The fact that the kids kill willingly shows that they can be just as evil as the adults.

            Battle Royale steps into many territories that many people, not just Americans, see as taboo. The major area is the site of underage girls and boys slicing and shooting each other to bits. This added on to the already high violence level would make U.S. censors do all they can to prevent this movie to be seen on the big screen. Fortunately though, it’s released on DVD here in America. This shows that Japan, unlike America, is not afraid to relate the theme of death to younger people.

            Battle Royale is a strong acquired taste for most movie watchers. The gore-level is extremely high, higher than some of intensely violent American movies. It’s definitely not for the weak of heart. However, it’s a very intense and adrenaline pumping story. It will keep you on the edge of your seat as you see the drama that ensues between former friends and former lovers. You will want to know how the next person dies, yet at the same time clenching your fist hoping it will not happen and everyone will have a happy ending. A happy ending is far from what is waiting for everyone in the madness and carnage that is Battle Royale. Watch it on DVD today!