BATTLE ROYALE
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Notable Actors: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Takeshi Kitano
Awards: Blue Ribbon Award
Year: 2000
Photo-credit: IMDB
Battle Royale is based on the novel from 1999 which follows a class of junior high school students who are gassed and forced on an island by the totalitarian government to fight until the last survivor. Each student is given food, water, a map of the island, flashlight and a random weapon and is told to have one emerging victor in three days. Any uncooperative student or students leaving the island will die from collar detonation. This film is controversial and violent, but given universal acclaim for its unique style and interesting story. Since the release of the film, the term battle royale has been redefined as this genre or mode of entertainment where a select group of people battle each other for one emerging winner.