Because of this, Japan can always show a unique sense of beauty in the film and television themes of death. For example, Nagisa Oshima's "The World of Senses" and "Paradise Lost" adapted from Junichi Watanabe's novels both sublimate death into a religious purification in which individuals rebel against society and pursue detachment.
But Battle Royale is still different. In this film, the director evolves the death of a group into a performance art, transforming the passing of life into a desperate dance accompanied by blood and gunfire. With the in-depth plot and narrative pouring out, is right Reflections on human nature and society. Every viewer can hear the trembling voice in their hearts, and involuntarily bring themselves into the game full of despair. The whole story is somewhat similar to The Hunger Games, but in depth it makes the latter unmatched. And the time when the original novel of "The Hunger Games" was written was far after "Battle Royale". Whether the inspiration was saved is really an unsolved case.
Only one of the classmates who used to get along day and night can survive. Among them, there are close friends, lovers, and two mysterious "previous students". When the cruel game becomes the verdict of life and death, and the probability of success is so low, all the masks that are usually covered on the face are instantly lifted, and everyone is passively showing their most primitive and essential side, while The crampedness of the closed island made the human nature, which was usually covered by reason, erupt, and a massacre full of the laws of the jungle kicked off.
Cowardly people choose to give up when despair has just arrived. Their meticulous nerves can't stand such a battle with almost no chance of winning, so they escape. At least, the blood on his hands is only his own blood, at least, walking towards annihilation with his beloved, and there is less loneliness on Huangquan Road. In fact, they seem cowardly, but they don't have to go through so much pain, and they don't have to turn themselves into a beast before they die. And who can accuse them of making the wrong choice?
A foolish person sees this as a game of the brave, clearly holding a weapon to kill, but he has to chatter endlessly like a condescending man, foolishly giving the enemy a chance to turn over and win. They are arrogant and ignorant of current affairs, like a beast that was domesticated by a circus but wandered into the wilderness.
Innocent people, they believe too much in the goodness of human nature. They try to unite their lost classmates with a few words without weight, but they forget that the killing has already begun, and there is nowhere to go back. Heaven. Even without Kiriyama, the murderer, there will be others who will crush their hopes with flaming bullets.
A strong person with determination to live, she can use everything as a weapon, even her own body. She allowed her hands to be covered in blood, ignoring her face and losing all expression. But when she was pointed at the top of her head by the gun in her friend's hand, the tears she cried bitterly must not be completely in exchange for the opponent's acting skills to relax their vigilance. And in the end, when she, who had killed the most, fell into a pool of blood, the slowly lit subtitles made people tremble: I just don't want to sit still.
Only cruel people are like a duck to water. For Kiriyama, who voluntarily participated in the game, the most important thing was to legally enjoy the thrill of killing. Like the king of the jungle, he recklessly harvests the lives of others, and even his own life seems to be discarded at any time. But it is such a beast-like person who has become the most terrifying existence and the top of the food chain in this game of the jungle, which makes people wonder, what kind of rationality and wisdom have evolved from human beings over thousands of years? significance?
The flower of sin blooms here, and the bloodthirsty and cruelty inherited from ancient genes are awakened again. Humanity, or animal nature, has become a choice that everyone must make.
In the face of death, trust appears vulnerable. The sisters who originally helped each other, killed each other because of a misunderstanding, and instantly turned into cold corpses. In fact, it wasn't the misunderstanding that made them wave the scythe of death to their best friend, but the suspicion that had already grown in their hearts. Everyone is not afraid to speculate on others with the worst malice, or in other words, everyone subconsciously harbors the deepest hidden murderous intentions, pushing oneself to the other, so that the temporary peace collapsed after the last straw fell.
In the face of violence, even wisdom seems insignificant. Despite the hacking technology that can break into the military computer system with a single computer, everything is meaningless in the face of the bullet. Just as civilization is always conquered by barbarism, the glorious ancient Rome was ravaged by the Germanic cavalry, and the flourishing Song Dynasty was defeated by the Mongolian Tartars. This is a battle between the highest achievement of human evolution and the most primitive desire of the beast in the body. Obviously, the former failed miserably.
The final salvation, some of which fall into the cliché but not unexpected, is still love. But one word "love" is obviously not enough. Takako Asakusa's last happiness is to be able to confess to the person she likes and stop breathing in his arms, while Hiroki Sugimura searches for the girl she loves everywhere without fear of danger, hoping to protect her, but she ends up dying under her gun, What's more sad is that the girl also died because the gunfire attracted the enemy. These tragedies are because their love is just a one-way line, unable to get the response and feedback of the other party, and of course unable to form a joint force to escape.
The reason why Kawada re-entered the game, apart from the government's coercion, was more because he wanted to understand the smile of Keiko before his death. In Qiyuan and Nakagawa, he saw the shadow of himself and Qingzi, and also understood Qingzi's smile. That is the joy of leaving the hope of life to the lover. His death, of course, was to protect the love of this pair of lovers, but it was not without the decision to live without love. The son of a doctor, a cook and a fisherman, plays the role of the mentor and protector of Shichihara and Nakagawa in this game, saving them step by step from the mortal crisis, and teaching them how to survive in a cruel and suffocating environment Survive in this lonely island, or in the long years to come.
Shichihara and Nakagawa are the most popular boys and girls in the class, they are kind, innocent but firm. For the sake of love, they can make their cowardly self become brave, and they can make their incompetent self great. They are scarred and support each other to the end, even if the road ahead is full of thorns, even if the whole world is against you, but with each other, you have the determination and motivation to live. How I hope that they can live a peaceful and quiet life in incognito from now on. This is one of the reasons why I hate "Battle Royale 2". In any case, I don't want to believe that two people like this will become terrorists who will kill people.
In fact, in addition to the sharp anatomy of human nature, the film also obviously alludes to the status quo of the entire society, and even the environment setting of the island is exactly the same as the real Japanese terrain. Master Kitano, played by the great director Takeshi Kitano, was originally an adult with a messed up career and life, but inexplicably became the supervisor of the BR project. This detail that cannot stand scrutiny actually has a rich symbolic direction. The desire for victory and the human nature in the pursuit of victory are not only revealed in this game of life and death, but are also not uncommon in real society. The whole society is increasingly becoming a sharp pyramid, the space left at the top of the tower is getting smaller and smaller, and everyone is struggling to climb up. And in order to get to the top, do you reach out and pull down the person crawling in front of you, and then watch him fall into the abyss? No one can guarantee their absolute kindness and harmlessness, because in this world, such people have disappeared and been killed in their innocent and natural childhood.
This is a cruel and unbearable youth story, and it is also a realistic adult fable. The late Japanese director Shinji Fukasaku used a pot of bloody and violent ingredients to cook this dish that shivered from the back to the soul. As the last work he left behind for more than 40 years of directing, this film is a reflection of his life, stripping away the hypocritical appearance of this world, and showing the bloody modern society and human nature before our eyes.
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