Battle Royale

Not having done a movie review in a while, today is an opportunity to fix that, and today's movie is Battle Royale.  The story is that a class of ninth graders are picked to participate in a killing game that only ends with one person surviving.  The movie itself is based on a novel of the same name, and like the novel, the film was released to much controversy.  The central characters in the movie are Shuya Nanahara (Boy 15), Noriko Nakagawa (Girl 15), and Kitano (teacher).  Other central characters in the movie are Kawada (boy 5), Kiriyama (boy 6), and Mitsuko (girl 11).  For purposes of this review, these are the characters that do the most in the movie, so I will focus on them as opposed to the others, most of whom have one line or two before getting killed.

The film follows Nanahara, who was orphaned after seeing his father hang himself, and Noriko, who has a special relationship with Kitano (father and daughter like relations, to be specific).  Kawada and Kiriyama are transfer students with different motivations for being in this Battle Royale, with Kawada being the guardian angel of sorts for both Nanahara and Noriko while Kiriyama joins for the sport of it.  Mitsuko also plays a central role in this film, as other than Kiriyama, she is the most lethal player in this game.  Beyond all the killing, Battle Royale touches upon the themes of friendship, love, and relations with family gone awry.  You notice these things in the flashbacks that Nanahara, Noriko, and Kitano have, and even when Kitano inadvertently (?) saves Noriko from certain death at the hands of Mitsuko.  The violence within the movie will either draw you in or push you away, but it is the underlying themes that ultimately make this movie worth your time.