BATTLE ROYALE

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tara Yamamoto, "Beat" Takeshi

Year: 2000

Rating: NR

(in Japanese w/English subtitles)

This is one disturbing, violent, intense and thought-provoking film; one that will stay with you long after you see it, and have you asking questions not only about yourself but, those around you that you call your "friends".

Set in Japan just after the new millennium, Battle Royale briefly introduces viewers to a Japan that has collapsed in on itself. Unemployment and crime are at all-time levels, and both the economy and people's believe in their nation has all but collapsed. Even in schools, kids are either misbehaving and out of control, or boycotting school altogether ... and the country's newest law for controlling the youth of Japan - a law designed as both punishment as well to teach students obedience and strength, is where the story begins.

Tatsuya Fujiwara (Death Note) stars as Shuya, a 9th grade middle school student orphaned when his father hung himself at home. Shuya found the body one day after school, and in turn went to live in a foster home, where he met his best friend Nobu. The buddies are on a rowdy school bus one afternoon, coming back from school ... when Shuya, who has fallen asleep, suddenly wakes up to find it's night time outside - and not only is the bus still riding along, but all his fellow classmates are also asleep on the moving bus. He has just enough time to see that the driver and a uniformed female chaperone on the bus are wearing gas masks ... before he's knocked unconscious by the female "guard" -

And, much later that night, the entire class begins to stir and wake up on the grimy floor of what looks like an abandoned classroom in the middle of nowhere. As the confused, drugged students all slowly come to, they begin to notice that each of them is wearing a metallic-silver collar with a light sensor in front ... and that's when the fatigue-clad soldiers march in, led by one of their teachers, Kitano ("Beat" Takeshi).

Kitano, just as sick of the behavior of today's students as anyone else, calmly informs the class that they've been randomly chosen, by impartial lottery, and flown to a deserted island to participate in the latest program aimed at corralling Japan's corrupted youth: Battle Royale. As he plays an up-tempo, almost MTV-like Japanese video outlying the rules, the deadly game the middle-school students are about to play unfolds horrifically on their faces throughout the room.

Simply put, the teens all have three days to kill each other. They will be given a pack of food, bottles of water, a map and a flashlight - what they need to survive - but each pack will also contain a different weapon that each student is supposed to use to either kill, or defend himself against, his or her fellow students. There are 40 students from their class, the "B Class," in all; in three days' time, only one must remain alive in order to leave the island - otherwise, the sensors in each necklace of those students remaining will be activated and explode, killing whoever is left. Try and take off the collar? Ditto. And to further complicate matters, Kitano has place an additional two "transfer" students into the class - two guys who look older and infinitely more dangerous than the uniform-clad 9th graders that fill the room.

The rules of the game are, naturally, met with outrage and anger - none of which is taken lightly, as Kitano dispatches a couple of the students himself, in order to show the seriousness of the game (after displaying the bloody corpse of the class' homeroom teacher for the students, early on, to show he means business). One by one the students' names are called, and each picks up his or her personal bag from the bus before being tossed his (or her) military-issue survival kit bag and running from the room.

The students - basketball teammates, cheerleaders, many of them good friends within the walls of B Class - are immediately forced to take a stand once let loose in the jungle. Some take to killing right away, survival mode kicking into high gear, while others simply run and hide and try to figure out what to do ... and still others decide the battle is over already, by killing themselves rather than taking the lives of their friends. Some of the students even try to form alliances with each other, in order to survive - but knowing that only one of them can survive in three days' time, and still remain alive and make it home, brings out the suspicion and fear in everyone. And also, in some cases, the "kill or be killed" rules of war. As Shuya simply tries to find a way to escape with the girl he loves (Aki Maeda), it becomes apparent to both of them that some friends have become enemies - and all rules of society no longer apply.

Again, this is an intense and violent film with more than its share of surprises - and heartbreaks. Sometimes it comes off as almost a black comedy, but the tension level is, at times, almost too hard to bear. This is one movie that will have you wondering what you would do in a similar situation ... but more importantly, what those who you think you call friends might do as well. It's an action/suspense film bristling with social commentary that depicts the ultimate generation gap between adults and teens in a society that's simply run out of both patience and any other solutions. Battle Royale has edge-of-your-seat suspense, but will also bring a tear to your eye and leave your mind haunted by its images and storyline for some time after viewing. It's brilliant filmmaking, and deserves to be seen. ****1/2 - Reel Awesome-Reel Must-See