F-0269

Title:

Batoru rowaiaru
Battle Royale (International: English title)

Category:

S

Produced:

2000

Country:

Japan

Released:

Film: Dec 2000 (Japan)
DVD: Sep 2002; Jun 2004; 2004 (3-DVD); May 2007
VHS: ?
Soundtrack: May 2001 (CD)

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writer:

Koushun Takami (novel); Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)

Actors:

Tatsuya Fujiwara (Shuya Nanahara - Boys #15); Aki Maeda (Noriko Nakagawa - Girls #15); Taro Yamamoto (Shougo Kawada - Boys #5); Chiaki Kuriyama (Takako Chigusa - Girls #13); Sousuke Takaoka (Hiroki Sugimura - Boys #11); Takashi Tsukamoto (Shinji Mimura - Boys #19); Yukihiro Kotani (Yoshitoki Kuninobu - Boys #7); Eri Ishikawa (Yukie Utsumi - Girls #2); Sayaka Kamiya (Satomi Noda - Girls #17); Aki Inoue (Fumiyo Fujiyoshi - Girls #18); Takayo Mimura (Kayoko Kotohiki - Girls #8); Yutaka Shimada (Yutaka Seto - Boys #12); Ren Matsuzawa (Keita Iijima - Boys #2); Hirohito Honda (Kazushi Niida - Boys #16); Ryou Nitta (Kyouichi Motobuchi - Boys #20)

Description:

In future Japan, the government capture a class of ninth-grade students and force them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

42 delinquent students. 3 days. One deserted Island. Welcome to Battle Royale. A group of delinquent students from a Japanese high school have been forced by a legislation to compete in a new forum of reality television.The students are given a bag with a randomly selected weapon and a few rations of food and water and sent off to kill each other in a no bars hold (with a few minor rules) game to the death. This means that the students have 3 days to kill each other until 1 survives or they all die. The movie focus on a few of the students and how they cope. Some decide to play the game like the psychotic Kiriyama or the Sexual Mistuko whilst others like the heroes of the movie Shuya, Noriko and Kawada are trying to find a way to get off the Island without violence. However as the numbers dwell down lower and lower on an hourly basis is there anyway for Shuuya and classmates to survive? (Prissy Panda Princess)

In the beginning of the Twentieth-First Century, the economy of Japan is near a total collapse, with high rates of unemployment and students boycotting their classes. The government approves the Battle Royale Act, where one class is randomly selected and the students are sent to an island wearing necklaces with few supplies and one weapon. After three days, they have to kill each other and the survival wins his or her own life as a prize. The forty-two students of a ninth grade class are selected to participate in the survival game and abducted in their bus. Under the command of their former teacher Kitano, they have to eliminate each other following the rules of the sadistic game where only one wins. (Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Ninth grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food and various arms. They have to fight each other three days long until the last one remains and are forced to wear a special collar which will explode when they break a rule. (Killer-40)

"Battle Royale - A random class of Japanese ninth grade student are - in this fictional universe - randomly selected by a fascist government lottery. They become kidnapped and forced onto an isolated island, where they are equipped with food, water, a map and a random weapon. On the island, they have to compete in a violent death match game till only one single victor remain. Failure to follow the rules or participate in the death match results in death by an exploding collar everyone has to wear" (Artificial Lifeform)

At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a a state of near-collapse. Unemployment is at an all-time high, and violence amongst the nations youth is spiraling out of control. With school children boycotting their lessons and physically abusing their teachers, a beleaguered and near-defeated government decides to introduce a radical new measure: the Battle Royale Act Overseen by their former teacher, Kitano ('Beat' Takeshi) and requiring that a randomly chosen school class be taken to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death, the Act dictates that only one pupil be allowed to survive the punishment. He or she will return, not as the victor, but as the ultimate proof of the lengths to which the government are prepared to go to curb the tide of juvenile disobedience. (josh)

In the near future, when the society of Japan is crumbling, forty-two students find that their field trip is actually a military-sponsored game known as "Battle Royale". The kids' sadistic former teacher Kitano sends them to an isolated island and gives them three days to kill each other until only one remains. Two of the kids, Shuya and Noriko, stay together and further develop their already-formed bond. A transfer student, Kawada, sympathizes with the two and chooses to help them. Others develop a plan to bring down the military game, try to find their crush before they die, or lose their minds and go on killing sprees. (G-reaper)

With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence, it's only fitting that Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is being touted as a Clockwork Orange for the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a series of fleeting images of unruly Japanese schoolchildren, whose bad behavior provides a justification for the "punishments" that will ensue. Once the prequel has been dispensed with, the classmates are drugged and awaken on an island where they find they have been fitted with dog collars that monitor their every move. Instructed by their old teacher ("Beat" Takeshi) with the aid of an upbeat MTV-style video, they are told of their fate: after an impartial lottery they have been chosen to fight each other in a three-day, no-rules contest, the "Battle Royale." Their only chance of survival is through the death of all their classmates.
Some pupils embrace their mission with zeal, while others simply give up or try to become peacemakers and revolutionaries. However, the ultimate drive for survival comes from the desire to protect the one you love. Battle Royale works on many different levels, highlighting the authorities' desperation to enforce law and order and the alienation caused by the generation gap. Whether you consider the film an important social commentary or simply watch it for the adrenaline-fueled violence, this is set to become cult viewing for the computer game generation and beyond. (Nikki Disney, Amazon.com)

Language:

Japanese

TT:

114 min (Film, DVD) / 120 min (South Korea) / 122 min (Japan, director's cut) / 363 min (3-DVD)

J.S. Bach's Music:

Air (Mvt. 2) from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068

Format:

Film: Color, Dolby Digital
DVD: See below.
VHS: See below.
Soundtrack: CD

Company:

Film: Battle Royale Production Committee; Fukasaku-gumi (in association with); Toei Company
DVD: Toei; Lightning; Star Max
3-DVD: Wision Entertainment (Korea)
VHS: ?
Soundtrack: ?

Comments:

3-DVD Set includes: Battle Royale: Director's Cut / Battle Royale 2: Requiem / Special Supplement

Watch selections:

Buy movie at:

DVD: Amazon.com [AC-3, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, All Regions] | Amazon.com [NTSC, All Regions] | Amazon.com [NTSC, Unknown Region, Director's Cut] | Amazon.com [Dolby, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Unknown Region] | Amazon.com [Color, NTSC, Widescreen, Subtitled, All Regions]
3-DVD:Amazon.com [DVD Region, NTSC, Director's Cut, Box set, Widescreen, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Dolby, All Regions]
VHS: Amazon.com [NTSC]
Soundtrack: Amazon.com [CD]

DVD>

3-DVD> CD>

Source/Links: IMDB
Contributor: Aryeh Oron (November 2007)