Battle Royale (film)

Battle Royale
Directed by	Kinji Fukasaku
Produced by	Kenta Fukasaku Kimio Kataoka
Screenplay by	Kenta Fukasaku
Based on	Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Starring	Tatsuya Fujiwara Aki Maeda Taro Yamamoto Takeshi Kitano Masanobu Ando
Music by	Masamichi Amano
Cinematography	Katsumi Yanagishima
Editing by	Hirohide Abe
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date(s)	December 16, 2000 (2000-12-16)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	$4,500,000
Box office	¥3,110,000,000 ($25,000,000) (Japan)

Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル, Batoru rouaiaru) is a 2000 Japanese thriller film directed by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film aroused international controversy.

A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed.

Plot

The film opens with the prologue text, "At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act..."

Japanese teenager Shuya Nanahara struggles to cope with life after his father commits suicide by hanging. Meanwhile, his classmate, Noriko Nakagawa, finds her class, 3-B, empty with only her teacher Kitano present in the classroom. Kitano leaves but is suddenly attacked by student Yoshitoki Kuninobu with a knife. Noriko hides the knife. Kitano later resigns after recovering from his wound.

A year later, class 3-B makes a field trip at the end of their required educational years. On the return trip, the entire class is gassed on the coach and awaken in a large "briefing room" on a remote island. They are all wearing electronic collars. A military platoon enters led by Kitano, who is now working for the government. Kitano explains that the class has been chosen to participate in this year's Battle Royale, the result of the "BR Act". The class is forced to watch an orientation video, produced in the style of a music video show. The video explains that they have three days to kill each other until just one student remains. If the students defy the rules or attempt to escape, they will be killed by the detonation of their collars. The collars will also explode if the wearer enters one of the randomly placed "death zones", whose locations are changed at the beginning of each day. Kuninobu objects to the "game" and refuses to cooperate; Kitano wounds him in a similar manner when he was attacked by Kuninobu back at school (by slashing his behind with a knife) then detonates his collar while Shuya watches in horror, which quickly turns to rage and is held down by Mimura and several other students. Another student, Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, is also killed before the game begins. Each student is provided with a bag of food and water, plus one item. This additional item might be an obvious weapon (a shotgun, a pistol, a knife). Others are less immediately obvious in their usefulness (a saucepan lid, a fork, a paper fan, binoculars). The weapons are supposed to eliminate any natural advantage any one student might have over the others. The students are forced to leave the building one at a time with a sixty second interval between departures.

The terrifying first night sees several deaths, four of which are suicides. Exchange student Kazuo Kiriyama and Mitsuko Souma become the most dangerous players in the game, while another exchange student Shogo Kawada seems more merciful. Shuya promises to keep Noriko safe for Kuninobu because he was in love with her but doesn't tell her. Other students have more legitimate goals in the game: Shinji Mimura and his friends plot to hack into the military's computer systems and then bomb their base of operations; Hiroki Sugimura searches for his best friend Takako Chigusa and his love interest Kayako Kotohiki. Chigusa runs into Kazushi Niida, who is sexually obsessed with her; they come to blows when he forces himself on her, and she stabs him to death. Chigusa is immediately shot by Mitsuko, and she dies in Sugimura's arms. Kawada teams with Shuya and Noriko, and reveals that he won a previous Battle Royale at the cost of his girlfriend; he is now planning to avenge her. The trio are forced to separate when Kiriyama attacks, and Sugimura rescues Shuya.

Shuya awakens in the island's lighthouse where Yukie Utsumi and the school's cheerleading squad are hiding out. Paranoid Yuko Sakaki, who believes that Shuya murdered a friend of hers, tries to poison Shuya's food. The poisoned food is mistakenly eaten by one of the girls, leading to mass panic and a bloody gunfight that only Yuko survives. Yuko realises the enormity of her paranoia and leaps to her death.

Shuya makes his way back to Noriko and Kawada, and they set out to find Mimura's group. Sugimura tracks down Kotohiki, who panics and kills him shortly after; Sugimura confesses he loves her before dying. Kotohiki cries in despair and is then killed by Mitsuko. Kiriyama appears and fights with Mitsuko, gunning her down, However, Mitsuko plays dead, then attacks Kiriyama first with the stungun then with her Kama. However, Kiriyama's body armour prevents her attacks from having any effect then shoots her shortly afterwards. Mimura's group finish their plans, but Kiriyama kills them. The bomb built by the group explodes, blinding Kiriyama and allowing Kawada to shoot him dead.

Throughout, Kitano and his soldiers track (via the electronic collars) the movements and deaths of the "players", and announce roll-calls of the dead via an island-wide PA system.

On the morning of the final day, Kawada takes Shuya and Noriko aside and stages their deaths. Seeing this, Kitano (believing Kawada to be the "winner") ends the game. He plans to kill Kawada anyway, and dismisses the troops. Shuya and Noriko appear: Kawada has hacked into the game system beforehand and disabled the tracking devices in the collars. Kitano unveils a homemade painting of the dead students with Noriko indicated as the winner. He confesses that he always thought of her as a daughter, after being rejected by his real daughter, Shiori. Shuya shoots Kitano, who takes a final phone call from Shiori as he dies. Shuya, Noriko and Kawada leave the island on a boat but Kawada dies from injuries sustained while fighting Kiriyama. The film ends with Shuya and Noriko being declared fugitive criminals.

Cast

See also: List of Battle Royale characters

• Tatsuya Fujiwara as Shuya Nanahara
• Aki Maeda as Noriko Nakagawa
• Taro Yamamoto as Shogo Kawada
• Takeshi Kitano as Kitano
• Masanobu Ando as Kazuo Kiriyama
• Kou Shibasaki as Mitsuko Souma
• Takashi Tsukamoto as Shinji Mimura
• Sosuke Takaoka as Hiroki Sugimura
• Yukihiro Kotani as Yoshitoki Kuninobu
• Chiaki Kuriyama as Takako Chigusa

Production

Creative process

Kinji Fukasaku stated that he decided to direct the film because the novel it was adapted from reminded him of his time as a 15-year-old munitions factory worker during World War II. At that time, his class was made to work in a munitions factory. In July 1945, the factory came under artillery fire. The children could not escape so they dived under each other for cover. The surviving members of the class had to dispose of the corpses. At that point, Fukasaku realized that the Japanese government was lying about World War II, and he developed a burning hatred of adults in general that he maintained for a long time afterwards.

When asked in an interview with The Midnight Eye if the film is "a warning or advice to the young," Kinji Fukasaku responded by describing the words "warning" and "advice" as "sounding very strong to me" as if they were actions which one tries to accomplish; therefore the film would not be "particularly a warning or advice." Fukasaku explained that the film, which he describes as "a fable," includes themes, such as crime by young people, which in Japan "are very much real modern issues." Fukasaku said that he did not have a lack of concern or a lack of interest; he used the themes as part of his fable. When the interviewer told Fukasaku that he asked the question specifically because of the word "run" in the concluding text, which the interviewer described as "very positive." Fukasaku explained that he developed the concept throughout the film. Fukasaku interpreted the interviewer's question as having "a stronger meaning" than "a simple message." Fukasaku explained that the film has his "words to the next generation" so the viewer should decide whether to take the words as advice or as a warning.

Ratings

Kinji Fukasaku originally opposed the R15 rating given by the Eiga Rinri Kanri Iinkai (Eirin) because of Fukasaku's experiences as a teenager, the novel's use of 15-year-olds, and the fact that many of the actors were around fifteen years of age. After he submitted an appeal and before Eiga Rinri Kanri Iinkai could rule on the appeal, members of the Diet of Japan said that the film harmed teenagers; the Diet members also criticized the film industry ratings, which were a part of self-regulation by the Japanese film industry. Fukasaku dropped the appeal to appease the Japanese Diet in hopes they would not pursue increasing film regulation further.

Distribution

Distribution in North America

Despite rumours to the contrary,^{[citation needed]} the film is not banned in the United States. Rather, there has never been a distribution agreement for the film.

It has been exhibited at film festivals in North America. Nonetheless, bootleg copies of the film imported from China and South Korea have widespread availability on the continent, and a Special Edition DVD of the film was carried to a limited extent by retailers such as HMV and Starstruck Entertainment in Canada and Tower Records in the United States; the legal status of this edition is not clear. Also, the film's UK distributor, Tartan Films, released an all-region NTSC DVD version of the film that is available in North America from specialty outlets. One widely available Hong Kong import is a special edition without English subtitles that contains Both Films. Battle Royale and its sequel are available on Netflix, a major home-entertainment distributor in the United States.

The film began its first North American theatrical run at the Cinefamily Theater in Los Angeles on December 24, 2011 – 11 years after its original Japanese release. An official Blu-ray of the film (and its sequel) is scheduled to be released on 20 March 2012.

Sasebo slashing controversy

The creators of the sequel postponed the release of the DVD (originally scheduled for June 9, 2004) to later that year because of the recent Sasebo slashing. The killer had read Battle Royale.

Special version

A special version of the film was released after the original which has eight extra minutes of running time. Unusually, the extra material includes scenes newly filmed after the release of the original. Inserted scenes include (but are not limited to):

• Flashbacks to a basketball game which is used as a framework for the entire story.
• A flashback that explains Mitsuko's personality.
• Three epilogues (referred to as "requiems"). The first is an extension of the basketball scene. The second is a vision of Nobu telling Shuya to take care of Noriko. The third is a scene between Kitano and Noriko, who talk casually by a riverbank.
• Added shots of the lighthouse after the shoot-out
• Added reaction shots in the classroom, and extensions to existing shots.
• Extra CGI throughout the film

3D re-release

The film was released to theaters in 3D in Japan on November 20, 2010. Director Kinji Fukasaku's son and screenwriter of Battle Royale, Kenta Fukasaku, oversaw the conversion. Anchor Bay Entertainment planned to release the 3D version in the United States sometime in 2011, but that did not happen.

Limited edition release

Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray and DVD in a Limited Edition version in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2010 as a three-disc collector's edition set, featuring both cuts of the film. The DVD version was limited to 5,000 copies. The Blu-ray version was initially being released as limited to 5,000 copies but due to the large volume of pre-orders was increased to 10,000 copies. The Limited Edition Blu-ray is region-free, meaning it can play on Blu-ray players worldwide. The DVD is also region-free.

Reception

Battle Royale grossed ¥3.11 billion domestically (around $25 million US). The film was widely acclaimed by critics, with an 84% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

The film was labeled "crude and tasteless" by members of Japanese parliament and other government officials after the film was screened for them before its general release. The film created a debate over government action on media violence. Many conservative politicians used the film to blame popular culture for a youth crime wave. Ilya Garger of TIME magazine said that Battle Royale received "free publicity" and received "box-office success usually reserved for cartoons and TV-drama spin-offs."

At the 2001 Japanese Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Picture of the Year, Director of the Year, Screenplay of the Year, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Outstanding Achievement in Music (Masamichi Amano), and Outstanding Achievement in Sound Recording (Kunio Ando). The film won Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing (Hirohide Abe) and the Popularity Award, and Tatsuya Fujiwara and Aki Maeda both won Newcomer of the Year.

Critics note its relation to the increasingly extreme trend in Asian cinema and its similarity to reality television.

In 2009, Quentin Tarantino listed the film as his favorite film released since he began directing in 1992. Bloody Disgusting ranked the film fifteenth in its list of the Top-20 Horror Films of the Decade, with the article calling the film "a go-for-broke extravaganza: fun, provocative, ultra-violent, and bound to arouse controversy (which it did)...the film [is] more than just an empty provocation—it builds character through action, a method all good filmmakers should seek to emulate." Empire ranked Battle Royale #235 and #82 on their lists of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time" and "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" respectively.

TOKYO 10+01

Main article: TOKYO 10+01

Battle Royale heavily influenced the 2002 Japanese film TOKYO 10+01, which was directed by Higuchinsky and makes several references to the Battle Royale film itself. It involves eleven strangers being forced to play a game with a set time limit or face death. Instead of explosive collars, they have bracelets with hypodermic needles which can inject a deadly poison if they try to remove them or time runs out. TOKYO 10+01 has two actors who respectively appeared in both Battle Royale and Battle Royale II: Requiem: Masanobu Ando, who played Kazuo Kiriyama in the first film, and Natsuki Kato, who appeared in Battle Royale II as Saki Sakurai. A close concept of kill-game is used for the manga (1999–2001) and anime (2008) Bus Gamer.

Music

Main article: Battle Royale (soundtrack)

The music soundtracks for both movies were composed, arranged and conducted by Masamichi Amano, performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and features pieces of classical music with some original composition. The choral Western classical music used as the film's overture theme music is the "Dies Irae" from Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem.

Remake

In June 2006, Variety reported that New Line Cinema, with producers Neil Moritz and Roy Lee, intended to produce a new adaptation of Battle Royale. Several Web sites echoed the news, including Ain't It Cool News, which claimed the remake would be a "an extremely Hard R—serious-minded Americanization of BATTLE ROYALE." New Line tentatively set a release date of 2008.

The next month, The New York Times reported on an Internet backlash against the remake. Through the article, Lee assured fans of his respect for the original work, claiming, "This is the one I'm going to be the most careful with." He stated that, despite earlier concerns, the movie would not be toned down to PG or PG-13, the characters would remain young teenagers, and that it would draw elements equally from the novel and the original movie and the manga.

The reporter noted "the hubbub...was at least slightly premature [as] New Line hasn't yet purchased the remake rights."

Following the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007, Roy Lee claimed that prospects for the remake had been "seriously shaken." While he remained willing to proceed, he stated, "we might be a little more sensitive to some of the issues." The reporting article noted that New Line still had not secured remake rights—its spokeswoman claimed "no news" when asked about progress on any deal.

The Hunger Games novel and subsequent film has been criticized for its similarities to the 1999 novel Battle Royale. Although its author Suzanne Collins maintains that she "had never heard of that book until [her] book was turned in," The New York Times reports that "the parallels are striking enough that Collins’s work has been savaged on the blogosphere as a baldfaced ripoff," but that "there are enough possible sources for the plot line that the two authors might well have hit on the same basic setup independently."

External links

• Battle Royale at the Internet Movie Database
• Battle Royale at AllRovi
• Battle Royale at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official English-language Battle Royale website
• Battle Royale fansite
• Review and analysis of the Battle Royale film
• Battle Royale American Remake Set Up
• Comparison of DVD releases
• (Japanese) Battle Royale at the Japanese Movie Database
• (Japanese) Battle Royale (Director's Cut) at the Japanese Movie Database
• (Japanese) Battle Royale 3D Official Website