By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Dec 29 2000 (IPS)

A movie showing gory violence by teenagers is drawing in crowds, but worried social experts and politicians say it is not a welcome film amid rising youth violence in Japan.

Thus far, film critics have given high marks to the movie ‘Battle Royale’, which hit 200 Japanese cinemas a week ago. It has been given a rare R15 rating by Eirin, Japan’s censor board.

The movie features bloodthirsty violence among teenagers, but educators say the scenes are a fitting illustration of the vulnerability of youth in Japanese society.

“The movie features terrible mindless violence committed by children against each other on instructions by adults,” explains professor Akihito Kita, an education critic who is also a proponent of a bill to protect children’s rights.

“But the real issue is Japanese children are just not prepared to judge for themselves how to deal with this violence that they are suppose to commit,” Kita adds.

The movie centres on a class of 40 junior high school students who are kidnapped by government officials and taken to a remote island, where they are asked to kill one other in three days until only one survives.

The children are given weapons and food rations, and made to wear a specially designed collar that explodes if they disobey orders. They are then left to decide on how to eliminate each other.

In the film, this is all part of a chilling experiment under the government’s defense simulation project, which uses the game to file a report on war for a national security programme.

Film scenes depict a fresh-faced girl who slashes off the head of her friend with a large scythe, ignoring pleas to spare her. Likewise, groups of other boys and girls in blood-stained uniforms spray each other with bullets, and use bombs or knives to kill their classmates.

Others commit suicide rather than be killed and some try to escape, while others decide to trust each other to survive.

The film is directed by the prize-winning Kinji Fukasaku, and has in its cast popular actor Tatsuya Fujiwara and veteran entertainer Beat Takeshi. Movie producer Toei is reporting full- house audiences.

But the movie’s gory scenes are prompting politicians, including Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura, to take action to bar viewership of the movie by children.

Like him, other politicians argue that the extremely violent scenes are inappropriate given rising teenage violence in Japan, a trend that worries parents and social experts alike.

“After watching this film there could be more children imitating killing. Instead (of this), we should be teaching them the importance of life,” Liberal Democratic Party member Masahiro Morioka said.

Japan has seen a spate of violence committed by children this year. Many of the perpetrators have told police they resorted to killing or hurting others in order to release pent up emotions against their parents or society.

But the row over the film has only fuelled interest in it.

Interviewed by the Japanese media, teenagers who have been turned away from the cinemas vowed to see ‘Battle Royale’ in one way or another.

“I tried to lie about my age but the lady at the ticket counter found out and told me I could not get in,” said one boy. “But I will try at another cinema.”

A 17-year-old boy wrote on the Internet that he saw nothing wrong with the movie. “I liked the movie because it showed the isolation we children feel,” he wrote. “Politicians are stupid if they think children should be barred from the film.”

Film critic Kosei Ono says the movie, which uses inexperienced children as actors, is well directed and depicts emotions of youth very well. “It is a good film and should be respected. The violence maybe extreme, but then violence and hatred and survival is all part of life, isn’t it?,” he explains.

Kita against the move to stop children from seeing the movie, adding: “The movie is about children so why shouldn’t children see the film?”

The violent contents of the film, based on the principle of media freedom, is actually geared to entertain adults, he says. That is the most worrisome aspect of the film and a situation that reflects the emptiness of Japanese society today, he adds.

“Children are tools to amuse adults in the movie and this is what has happened to our youth in modern society. Mass production targets youth with gadgets, which is why there is so much emptiness in children,” he explains.

In this environment, Kita says it is time for schools to have subjects like media literacy that will help children judge for themselves what adults are putting in the market for them to buy or watch.

“In this way, we will help children to deal with an adult- oriented society,” he says.

Director Fusaku, 71, says the movie is based on his experience in Japan during World War II, when he was working in a weapons production factory.

“I had a horrible experience escaping air bombing and helping to pick up dismembered limbs of people who were killed. I realised later that I was told lies by the Japanese military government that told us we have to fight to save our country from the enemy,” he explains.

“I felt cheated and isolated. This is what I wanted to portray in the movie,” Fusaku explains.

Excerpt: