Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a 1999 Japanese novel and year 2000 film, as well as a sequel and manga series. Despite international controversy, it is one of the most respected and most popular films in Japanese history. It is sometimes considered an uncredited inspiration for Suzanne Collins' stunning The Hunger Games trilogy. The fervor over the possible connection has taken this reputable Japanese film from the curio section of anime conventions (alongside other bizarrely violent films like Suicide Club), and into the consciousness of a million Hunger Games fans -- in fact the film has just now been officially released in the US for the first time. And as a Hunger Games devotee, I was really curious to experience Battle Royale. To my great delight, Battle Royale isn't the senseless fodder of the dime-a-dozen blood & guts bargain bin, this is a truly brilliant film.

I originally was going to read the book, because I'm sure that just as in every other circumstance, the novel is superior to the film. But it occurs to me that the violent, actiontastic  premise doesn't appeal to me enough to invest in a whole book. What first drew me to The Hunger Games wasn't its grisly deathmatch, it was the intense devotion it had won in my friends whose taste I greatly trust. Specifically, I bought the first Hunger Games novel after one of my friends sat and watched the MTV Movie Awards for 3 hours just to see a 20 second teaser trailer for the then-upcomming film adaption.

I'm not at all a fan of the type of action/drama film that Battle Royale is, generally they're just not to my preference. So Battle Royale had a bit of an uphill battle, and yet it still managed to blow me away. I loved every minute of it. It's probably one of my favorite movies.

I might be ridiculously oversimplifying (like any idiot who thinks The Hunger Games is about "the dangers of big government.") but I would guess the film is a commentary on the brutal pressurized scholastic society in Japan, where the fight for top grades is so intense children kill themselves. It's almost as if kids are pitted against each other in a death match, while apathetic adults pull the strings and kill their wards.

But the social commentary is secondary in Battle Royale. The Hunger Games and Battle Royale may share a premise, but everything from the demographic and style to their point and purpose are starkly opposed. While The Hunger Games focuses on crafting a vivid and intricate portrait of this dystopian society in order to gleam masterful satire from its depths, Battle Royale sets its sights on the battle itself, painting with sage-like strokes the true horror of the experience. The Hunger Games novels do a decent job of expressing the scarring terror experienced in the arena, but ultimately the emphasis is on telling its story and making its very powerful myriad of social commentaries. In regard to the harrowing deathmatch, it can't touch Battle Royale's grim and heartbreaking portrayal.

In Battle Royale, the ill-fated kids are even younger: middle school age, and they are given no forewarning of what's about to happen to them, unlike the tributes in The Hunger Games. What's more, they're all kids in the same class, who have years of history and baggage between them. This is one of the most compelling elements in the story, as unhinged individuals use the circumstance to enact revenge for past emotional scars, while many groups of friends try to band together and ride out the storm as one. The other amazingly compelling element is the very realistic and believable variety of reactions the kids have after entering the battle. Only a few are hardened enough to buckle down and try to "win" in order to spare their own life, most are shattered by the event and either kill themselves or try to make peace and not engage in the bloodbath.

The only blemish on the film, and it's a small one, is that the violence sometimes slips into campy, overdone territory. I've heard this is Quentin Tarantino's favorite movie. Some people say The Hunger Games should have been rated R so it could be more bloody like Battle Royale, but in reality the stylized violence in Battle Royale takes me right out of the gritty realism of the content and into the ironic escapism Tarantino is master of. Luckily, the dramatic craft in Battle Royale is so strong that the movie is unspeakably harrowing despite the less-than-ideal violence. Beyond that, the film was produced beautifully and affectingly.

The long and short of it is: The Hunger Games is a superior sci-fi/satire and Battle Royale is a superior action/drama. The Hunger Games is a far richer story and Battle Royale is a more harrowing experience. Any bickering between the two is asinine, you'll never be forced to choose between The Beatles OR Michael Jackson, The West Wing OR iCarly, The X-Men OR Akira. The Hunger Games, having three novels to its credit and therefore much more space, is able to wield wonderfully powerful drama and action of its own accord. But to overlook Battle Royale would be to overlook a genuinely brilliant work.

I may just have to go and read the book now, even though the premise itself still doesn't appeal to me. But if it led to a movie this good, I have to at least consider reading.