Is Life a Really a Battle?

All I knew going in was this: it's a game where Japanese school kids have to kill each other off one by one.

The movie is Battle Royale (2000) and it was somehow EXACTLY what I expected, and then somehow became a little bit more.

The setup is quick and painless: it's Japan of the seemingly near future and for a somewhat hazy reason the government has instituted the "BR Act" - every year a "Battle Royale" takes place where a randomly chosen group of school children (yes, children) are stranded on an island and have to kill each other until there's only one survivor left.

The Grade 9 class at the start of the movie comprises 42 children. This number quickly dwindles down, and down.

Some kill out of fear. Some kill out of anger. Some kill by accident. Some kill themselves. And a select few kill out of pure evil.

It's got all the grisly death scenes you expect from a survival horror movie like this, but this is NOT your normal horror movie.

Imagine all the little Junior High storylines you lived through - but all ending in death. The passionate crushes, the fighting between cliques, the loners with a bone to pick, and the seemingly unbreakable friendships - all ending in the most brutal and final of ways. We get to see tiny glimpses of these stories (especially the stories of young love) and of course, the bittersweet endings.

The movie begs a lot of interesting questions, with the main one being: what would YOU do if you were thrown into a situation like that?

Can intelligence get you out of a violent situation, or is violence the only way? Is life really a game, more dependent on random chance than skill or smarts? If your life is at stake, would friendship and love be meaningless?

Like I said - not your normal grisly horror movie. I recommend it.