Now I am not one who actively seeks out the most controversial and disturbing films in existence, I will be the first to admit that I am rather sensitive when it comes to what I watch, consequently I haven't seen films such as Irreversible, Salo, the work of Takeshi Miike, Antichrist, the list goes on and on.
But what I will watch are films that are controversial for a reason, not just for their graphic and disturbing content but for their message and the power with which they transmit it, such films as Peeping Tom, A Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver and Straw Dogs, to name only a few.
I think much of the discussion provoked by Battle Royale centred around the violence administered by children on other children, thus it can be in a way compared to last year's Kick Ass (which I found to be entertaining and hardly worth all the fuss) which caused much controversy with it's character of a foul mouthed and ultra violent young girl.
The violence in this film can hardly be ranked among some of the most extreme ever put on film, but it is the fact that it issued in such a context that shocks people, so if you go into this film expecting some of the most gruesome violence ever put on film (as I did) then you will be disappointed or, in my case, relieved.
I find this criticism slightly puzzling, why not criticise the violence itself, why focus on who perpetrates it? violence is violence after all and it is a major aspect of human existence it cannot be ignored and yet it shouldn't be glamorised à la "300" (terrible, terrible film).
What I find particularly annoying is when viewers fail to see the bigger picture, instead they focus on the violence depicted before them, take for example Taxi Driver, it garnered much criticism for it's climatic shoot out which was highly violent for it's day, but I think people should be shocked by the fact that the society presented in that film was so degenerate and corrupt that the character should have to resort to violence in order to make a serious change for the better. Thus I find the context more shocking than the violence itself, the same goes for Battle Royale.
Battle Royale takes place in the near future, if I had to confine this film to a single sub-genre then I would surely classify it as a Dystopian film, in this future overpopulation has reached unmanageable figures and the children run wild, are prone to violence and have become increasingly independent of their parents, teachers, guardians...
