Battle Royale (2000)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Writers: Kenta Fukasaku, from the novel by Koushun Takami

Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Takashi Tsukamoto, Sosuke Takaoka, Beat Takeshi

In near-future Japan, a law has been passed which requires that a high school class be randomly selected, fitted with explosive collars to ensure compliance, and released on an island with instructions to battle to the death.

 

Some become killers very quickly and easily, while others resist succumbing.

 

This very dark comedy follows the experience of one class and the students who beat the system. 

Director Kinji Fukasaku, who was in his seventies when he made the film, juxtaposed the Japanese cliches of "pure" youth and chirpy cuteness with brutal ultraviolence to comment on a society in which the generation gap has reached an apocalyptic level: this is a world where the older generation's feelings of resentment, shame, and guilt toward the younger results in a hatred and fear of its own children. 

This film's satiric intent is underscored by the irrationality of the so-called "BR law" itself; it is never explained how forcing one group of students to kill each other each year is supposed to benefit society.

 

A very interesting extrapolation of recent trends in Japanese society.