Film Review: Battle Royale

I watched this film once a few years a go but did not pay much attention so decided to rewatch it again, I stand by my decision. The film is built around a strange but quite entertaining and thought provoking idea that the Government could force this "deathmatch" upon a class full of students. There is clearly a political message that goes along with this film to do with human rights and the treatment of citizens in certain parts of the world. Because of this and the themes involved I found this film quite daring and deeper than just a pointless bloodbath. The flashbacks worked well to help you understand and engage with the characters as you got to know them during the film. The way in which some of the characters brutally burdered their friends and classmates was shocking to watch as you can imagine yourself in the same situation and think to yourself "What would I do" The fact that some of the characters became quite menacing and almost enjoyed the situation they were put in was shocking but somehow believable. The thing that really hooked me was trying to figure out how they were going to escape the island safely as only one person would be able to survive and this is quite cleverly done as there are multiple storylines during the film and they all culminate to create a situation in which the main characters of the film are able to escape the island. The death scene of the characters old teacher is confusing as they appear to shoot him to death then he simply stands up and takes a phone call like nothing is wrong before dying but this may have been an attempt to take away some of his humanity as this was the only person that they had intentionally killed therefore you would consider the peaceful protagonists to be murderers and disengage from them.