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Forbidden Zone

Battle Royale

FUKASAKU Kinji

Japan2000113min 35mm color

Synopsis

A family is on the verge of dying out at the turn of the century. Adults who fear the 15% of employment rate and 0.8 million students who reject school pass a bill called "the education reform law in the new century", "B?R law." In compliance with this law, 42 ninth graders are chosen to participate in a survival match. These students wake up to realize that they are chained around the neck after being dragged to a desert island by a group of soldiers. They are given a map, food, and weapons. They have to kill each other until there's only one survivor left in three days. If they fail to keep the time limit, the chains around each student's neck are designed to explode. < Battle Royale >, published in 1999 is the original work and has received much attention. This film also contains many bloodcurdling scenes and action sequences. (YOON Yong-soon)

Diretor

FUKASAKU Kinji

Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1930, Fukasaku is the director of legendary yakuza series, Battles without Honor and Humanity. This film placed Fukasaku in the pantheon of Japanese masters. His 60th film Battle Royale is well-known as key influence by Quentin Tarantino and John Woo. He passed aways in 2003.