erradicating teenage violence

Battle Royale

Japan at the dawn of a new millennium. The country is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers in schools is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: Battle Royale. Every year a school class picked at random will be cast away on an abandoned island to fight it out amongst themselves. It lasts three days, everyone gets food, water and a weapon, ONLY ONE MAY SURVIVE.

Veteran director Kinji Fukasaku is responsible for some of his country's best post-WWII yakuza films. Acknowledged by Quentin Tarantino and John Woo as a key influence, with BATTLE ROYALE Fuakasaku has added a contemporary, controversial and violent epic to his oeuvre. Fukasaku immediately identified with the teenagers from the popular novel by Takami Koshun which formed the basis for the film. At the age of 15 he was confronted with the death of his class mates during a bombing raid. The emotions that evoked the irrational hatred of the powers that had used such violence, have for him always been crucial.

He changed the face of Japanese action cinema forever with Battles Without Honour and Humanity and its many offspring in the early seventies, but the last two decades Kinji Fukasaku's career increasingly became that of a journeyman director, albeit a very successful one. Now with Battle Royale, the film that shocked a nation with its violent portrayal of a future society where juvenile delinquency is eradicated by extreme means, the director is back doing what he does best. Even at 70 years old, Kinji Fukasaku continues to make films that shock, grab and disturb the viewer