High School Murder Tournament - Kinji Fukasuku's Battle Royale 

This week Mr. Chavez & I look back to the beginning of the new millennium and an examination of the paranoia, violence, and uncertainty societies all over the world were facing. In 2000 Japanese director Kinji Fukasuku would bring to the screen one of the most controversial, thought-provoking, and challenging films of the new century. Battle Royale would stun and anger audiences in Japan and - later - throughout the world with its (seemingly) hopelessly dystopian look at a future not very distant from our own. Societies are breaking down and youth violence is running rampant; In the tradition of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as well as considerable debt to William Golding's 1954 novel, The Lord of the Flies, Fukasuku combines his influences in a world that resembles "reality television" without the cameras. It's a difficult and challenging movie that rewards its viewer with a sense of purpose that could have easily been overlooked. Take a listen as we remember Fukasuku's game-changing Battle Royale. As always, we can be reached at [email protected]. Many Thanks.

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