Battle Royale

While waiting for the upcoming release of 'The Hunger Games' I was reminded in my research of a great Japanese Movie (with a similar 'Lord of the Flies' ideas) called 'Battle Royale'

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.

The film does an excellent job at dispelling the notion that Japan is conformists, collectivists and not enough individualists. As the battle to the death begins it is often the individuals who can adapt and survive while the groups fall back on old habits that ultimately lead to their death.

They let us know right at the beginning how long it took for the game to wittle itself down to one survivor and show us who the survivor was. I guess it's not important WHO won just what they had to do to get to that victory - how they had to betray everything they were just to survive. It also keeps from hoping for any of the 40 or so student cast members.

I was surprised that this EVENT wasn't being televised like the similar situation in the upcoming 'Hunger Games'. I am sure in the context of the film, if youth found out that their peers were being exterminated to make a point, the true youth revolution the country feared would actually take place.

There is no point to this game other than revenge against a segment of society that no longer respect their elders in a proper way.

I laughed at some of the weapons the kids were randomly given. One person would get a machine gun while the guy next was forced to kill and defent himself with the lid of a cooking pot or a paper fan. That is some cold bullshit right there.

Of course such forced behavior brings out the true character of everyone involved. Those who fight back, well they get killed by their keepers. Those who refuse to fight, they are among the first to go.

I thought back to the many classes I have taught and wondered which out of the group in the pictures would come out on top. I taught a grade 8 girl named Shelby once who was the kind of kid you just KNEW would end up with her own talk show or comedy sitcom because she was so feirce, funny, sunny, enthusiastic and entertaining. She would probably win this little competition hands down. She knew how to adapt and to get the job DONE.