Batoru rowaiaru (2000)

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Koushun Takami (novel)
Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Could you kill your best friend?

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Teenage Boy | Necklace Bomb | Anesthesia | Graphic Violence | Good Versus Evil

Awards:

7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Battle Royale (International: English title)

Runtime:

114 min | USA:121 min (director's cut) | South Korea:120 min | Japan:122 min (director's cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) (cut) | Portugal:M/18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Belgium:KNT | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:(Banned) (original rating) | Singapore:R(A) (edited for re-rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18

Company:

Battle Royale Production Committee

Trivia:

Despite the popular belief that Batoru Rowayaru was been banned in the United States, it is not the case. There are two conflicting but similar stories as to why the film hasn't been released in the U.S.: The production company Toei refuses to license the movie for North American distribution and has already rejected offers from several North American companies, and the licensing price is unusually high for this kind of film and smaller independent-film companies are unable to afford it, while larger companies specializing in independent and foreign film will not buy it for that price. A third story was that no distributor was willing to pick the film up after the Columbine incident, due to the nature of the film consisting of teenage students killing each other.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Bags that are given to students aren't big enough to fit some of the weapons (e.g. crossbow, sickle, etc).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reporter: This year Zentsuji Middle School number 4's Class E was chosen from among 43,000 Ninth grade classes. This year's game, said to be more blistering than the last - - Oh look there! There she is! The winner's a girl! Surviving a fierce battle that raged two days, seven hours, and 43 minutes - the winner is a girl! Look, she's smiling! Smiling! The girl definitely just smiled!

Movie Connections:

References "The Prisoner: The Chimes of Big Ben (#1.1)" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Dies Irae

A Haunting Film That Demands Repeated Viewing

The Place: Japan. The Time: The not-so-distant-future. Faced with the prospect of losing control over the nation's young people, a totalitarian government decides upon a ruthless demonstration of power. The Battle Royale Act annually sends a randomly-selected class of high school students to an uninhabited island where they are compelled to kill each other until only one of their number survives.

The reasoning behind this bizarre piece of legislation is perhaps the weakest part of the plot - but the Director deftly causes us to suspend disbelief by drawing us surely and touchingly into the feelings of the young cast. Unlike many western movies which trot out a body count of simplistic characters who are only there to die horribly for our entertainment, Battle Royale somehow manages to rapidly introduce us to the story's potential victims and make us care about them.

You will read reviews that describe this film as excessively violent. I believe that this is a gross overstatement. Though there are many deaths and not a little blood, the main emphasis is upon simple human values - issues such as trust, friendship, love and hate - which the competition tests to their very limits. Children who have little genuine experience of living are forced to evaluate their relationships with each other if they want to stay alive. Alliances are formed and broken; long suppressed crushes and barely buried antagonisms influence their decisions.

There are no easy or mindless deaths in Battle Royale. The violent scenes make the point that violence and death are not cool or funny. This is not Kill Bill; every character in Battle Royale has value as a living, breathing human being. It may sound corny to say that the movie is an emotional roller-coaster ride, but it truly is - having dared to give us three dimensional people who bleed when they are cut, the Director sometimes further dares to cruelly follow scenes of tragedy with jarring moments of biting, dark and sarcastic wit.

If this was an American movie, the class would be played by people in their twenties and thirties. Two or three of the students would be given a lot of screen time and the rest would be faceless cannon fodder. Five seconds after the opening titles, you would know who was going to survive. Despite its odd premise, Battle Royale seems closer to reality because its teenagers really are teenagers and it allows no comforting certainties about who lives or dies.

The true genius of Battle Royale lies in the talented playing of the entire cast. Although young, not one of them strikes a dud note and the script gives almost all of the students a chance to shine at some point. The fight scenes are not staged in the style of 'Enter The Dragon' - the kids are not weapons experts or Karate champions. We see them kill each other but we are not invited to hate them - they are, after all, children and they are scared and desperate. Even a student who takes to killing with apparent relish deserves our sympathy.

Some reviewers have criticised aspects of the dialogue as unrealistic. There are certainly times when the script seems stagy - but it is important to remember that these Japanese children are products of a national culture which often finds the expression of passionate emotions problematical. If anything, the formal phrasing and awkwardness of their most heartfelt expressions only serves to make them more meaningful.

The Special Edition ends (quite literally) with a question. You will find yourself going back to this movie time and time again to answer it. Each viewing is rewarded with details that you probably missed previously - the depth of characterisation and the layers of hidden-in-plain-sight clues continually allow you to understand the story from fresh perspectives.