Battle Royale

Japan is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: every year a school class will be cast away on a desert island to fight it out among themselves. The rules are simple: it lasts three days and only one may survive. When a kidnapped school class wakes up, a teacher (none other than Kitano ‘Beat’ Takeshi) tells them that the collar around their necks can be caused to explode remotely at any moment.

Veteran Fukasaku Kinji, just as provocative as ever, added a contemporary, controversial and violent epic to his oeuvre. Fukasaku was immediately able to identify with the teenagers from the popular novel that formed the basis for the film. At the age of 15, he was confronted with the death of most of his classmates 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 − and certainly for this brutal variation on Survivor.