rating:
(out of
4 stars)Japan; 2000
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku; produced by Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku, Kimio Kataoka, Chie Kobayashi, Toshio Nabeshima; screenplay by Kenta Fukasaku
Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sousuke Takaoka, Beat Takeshi
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
This movie is about a new law in a country where things are not good. The
law is the Battle Royale-law and it is never explained. Some things are
explained. Children are no longer going to school and adults fear these
800.000 children and therefor they have accepted the BR-law. The only thing
we learn about the law is that one class is selected to go to a deserted
island. On that island the children from the class have to kill each other,
only one is allowed to survive. If there is more than one person left after
three days all survivors will be killed.
At first you can't believe the things you see. The children from the class
can't believe things either until one of them is murdered by the instructor
in front of their eyes. At first the teenagers work together but when it
comes clear that it is all serious they really start killing each other.
Some keep working together, trying to find solutions. We follow the main
characters, we see how they survive by luck or die unfortunate, some of them
get tricked by their former friends, some of them work together to find
answers. You can't believe it but it is probably the things people would do
in a situation like this. No one can be trusted but to survive, sometimes
you have to trust. This thing is made clear in a very disturbing scene with
a bunch of girls in a lighthouse.
Not that other scenes are not disturbing. They are all very disturbing and
this movie is definitely not for everyone. I thought it was very good. It
showed us some things that probably would happen. The more disturbing it
gets the more you can think about what you see. It is definitely a movie to
think about, but prepare for some violent images when you are going to watch
it.