Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. It was directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The film tells the story of a high-school student struggling with the death of his father who is forced by the government to compete in a deadly game, where the students must kill each other in order to win. The film aroused international controversy and was either banned or excluded from distribution in many countries, but was a domestic blockbuster, and is one of the 10-highest grossing films in Japan.
Kinji Fukasaku stated that he decided to direct the film because the novel it was adapted from reminded him of his time as a 15-year-old munitions factory worker during World War II. At that time, his class was made to work in a munitions factory. In July 1945, the factory came under artillery fire. The children could not escape so they dived under each other for cover. The surviving members of the class had to dispose of the corpses. At that point, Fukasaku realized that the Japanese government was lying about World War II, and he developed a burning hatred of adults in general that he maintained for a long time afterwards.
The Daily Omnivore 