Battle Royale, Director's Cut

Battle Royale, Director's Cut

Set in some alternate reality Japan, this film is a social commentary on Japan's conservative political thought processes by director Kinji Fukasaku. His direct experience as a young male during the war and what the bombing raids did to shape friendship during a struggle for survival has obviously shaped his outlook on what friendship is like in other situations. He brings this rather shattering viewpoint to the screen in his adaptation of Takami Koshun's novel.

This is a violent film, voted onto some lists as a top 100 dystopian film. Not suitable for the kiddies. It portrays violence against a subjectively viewed group of children as a societal reaction to disrespectful and violent youth in such a way as to challenge all society's rules for the enforcement of cultural mores.

I found the movie to be slightly contrived in its violence, possibly due to my own background. There were many reasons for me to challenge how the characters acted, and reacted to one another, but I'm not the intended audience to this morality play. While the violence is graphic, and sometimes gratuitous, there is a sense of inevitability the permeates the movie, and leads the viewer down the path to the ultimate end.

Critiquegod's Rating A for Acceptable