Batoru rowaiaru (2000)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Koushun Takami (novel)
Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Could you kill your best friend?

Plot:

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Plot Keywords:

Game | Battle | Teacher | Death | Food

Awards:

7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Shuya Nanahara - otoko 15-ban
Aki Maeda	...	Noriko Nakagawa - onna 15-ban
Tarô Yamamoto	...	Shôgo Kawada - otoko 5-ban
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Takako Chigusa - onna 13-ban
Sosuke Takaoka	...	Hiroki Sugimura - otoko 11-ban
Takashi Tsukamoto	...	Shinji Mimura - otoko 19-ban
Yukihiro Kotani	...	Yôshitoki Kuninobu - otoko 7-ban
Eri Ishikawa	...	Yukie Utsumi - onna 2-ban
Sayaka Kamiya	...	Satomi Noda - onna 17-ban
Aki Inoue	...	Fumiyo Fujiyôshi - onna 18-ban
Takayo Mimura	...	Kayoko Kotôhiki - onna 8-ban
Yutaka Shimada	...	Yûtaka Seto - otoko 12-ban
Ren Matsuzawa	...	Keita Îjima - otoko 2-ban
Hirohito Honda	...	Kazushi Nîda - otoko 16-ban
Ryou Nitta	...	Kyôichi Motobuchi - otoko 20-ban

Also Known As:

Battle Royale (International: English title) (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

114 min | Japan:122 min (director's cut) | South Korea:120 min | USA:121 min (director's cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:R-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Portugal:M/18 | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) (cut) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Belgium:KNT | Canada:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Singapore:(Banned) (original rating) | Singapore:R(A) (edited for re-rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Battle Royale Production Committee

Trivia:

Despite the belief that this film was banned in the United States, it is not the case. There are, however, several conflicting if plausible explanations as to why it hasn't been released there as of yet. The first is that Toei refuses to license the movie for North American distribution and has already rejected offers from several American companies. The second is that Toei's licensing fee is unusually high for this kind of film, so smaller independent distributors can't afford it and larger distributors that can afford it refuse to pay it. A third story was that no distributor was willing to pick the film up after the Columbine school shootings, due to the plot line of high school students killing each other.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Chigusa attacks Niida, she stabs him in the back, they roll to the floor, and then he tries to run, but she grabs him and screams "Bastard!" However her mouth is shut.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reporter: This year Zentsuji Middle School number 4's Class E was chosen from among 43,000 Ninth grade classes. This year's game, said to be more blistering than the last - - Oh look there! There she is! The winner's a girl! Surviving a fierce battle that raged two days, seven hours, and 43 minutes - the winner is a girl! Look, she's smiling! Smiling! The girl definitely just smiled!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Juno (2007)

Soundtrack:

To be Sung on the Water

You'll get it if you know modern Japan

Most of the reviewers here speak from their own viewpoints, i.e. non-Japanese westerners, and they praise/knock the movie based on its violence, plot, etc. That's fine. But through their ignorance of the culture this film springs from, they are missing its subtleties.

I've been teaching in a Japanese high school for three years now. Once I saw this movie, I could instantly appreciate its skill and surprising frankness at commenting on some of the sad and strange realities of Japan's modern youth.

Japan is a culture obsessed with youth. Almost everything here is tailored to the under-30 (and much younger, actually) crowd. For example, most westerners watching Japanese TV will be surprised at how childish it seems. The things that seem childish to your average American junior-high student are very appealing for a Japanese high-school student. Girls in their 30s desperately try to be "cute" to attract guys. Adults and children alike read comics by the droves, and sometimes pops up a strange, not-too-well-hidden undercurrent of pedophilia.

This movie takes the heavily cliquish, often childish, and often incomprehensible (to me) social system of young Japanese boys and girls and gives them guns. This is the natural result. Take it from me, the characters and situations are very realistic.

This gets mixed with the growing anxiety among the older generation at the rising rudeness and rebellion of the new generation in a culture that values politeness above all else. From a frustrated and humiliated teacher; to students killing each other over seemingly unimportant squabbles; to the overly-cutesy, peppy training video that perfectly mimics nearly any show on NHK these days -- this film subtly and brilliantly comments on half-a-dozen issues that weigh heavily on the minds of Japanese people today. That's why it was such a big hit in Japan.

Maybe you just have to live here to get it. I give it 5 stars.