|
Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence, was one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old gangster director Kinji Fukusaku.
The Japanese nation is in turmoil and on the verge of a collapse, the government must act to stop the violence from the nation's youth. They introduce a new measure 'Battle Royale' in which the pupils in a class from a randomly chosen school are taken to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death... As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television.
Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world.
|
See also:
Battle Royale II
You may also like:
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
|
