Why I depict violence in my films
is because I think it's closely related
to one aspect of our postwar experience.
There's a term "the in-the-ruins generation"
or "the black-market generation."
People belonging to this generation share a common feeling.
They have a kind of aversion towards the rebuilt society of Japan.
As cities got cleaned up and were rebuilt,
these people couldn't find any connection to the renewed cities.
Rather, they refused to accept the reconstructed society
and felt a strong longing for the chaotic black-market era.
And they hold on to violent emotions within themselves.
I think the black-market generation has these characteristics.
The violence I depict
is closely related to this longing for the black-market era
and the violent emotions we felt during that period.
So the actor Bunta Sugawara -
In working with him,
since we belong to the same generation,
I feel he also has this longing for these violent emotions.
So when he plays the part of a yakuza, for instance,
he always brings a certain extra quality to it.
And that's the black-market generation's -
I consider myself as belonging to that generation.
For that generation, man's violence -
We can't separate the idea of violence from the way we see things.
For someone like me who depicts violence in films,
Bun-chan is invaluable as an actor.
In a way,
I feel I've found a comrade in him.
There is violence depicted in my films, of course.
After a film of mine was shown,
I was actually confronted by a woman, a total stranger.
She rebuked me by saying, "Why did you make a movie like this?
I have a child, but I can't show this kind of movie to my child.
Have you any idea
what harm this movie would do to a child's education?"
And I couldn't come up with a reply to dispute her point.
So I told Mr. Fukasaku about this incident and asked him
what he would have said to the woman if he were in my position.
Mr. Fukasaku was calm as ever,
as if such an incident were a daily occurrence,
and answered me coolly,
"'What is this idea of education that gets shaken by a violent movie?
Is the education you're giving your child so fragile?'
That's how I would have replied to her."
And I thought he was absolutely right. I completely agreed with his reply.
Naturally, a child's education should not be such a shaky thing.
What kind of education is it that gets shaken by a violent movie?
I think that was how Mr. Fukasaku honestly felt.
This may be overstating it a bit, but I think Mr. Fukasaku felt that way
toward postwar Japan�s entire educational system.
It's not about how many extras you've got or how big the action is.
It's about who's hitting whom.
If you first emphasize the humanity of the characters who are fighting,
the action will naturally come alive.
What impresses me about Fukasaku's films is not the scale of the action,
but rather the expressions on the actors' faces.
I think that's what an action film should be.
Why is this man beating up on the other? Why is that man getting beaten up?
When you consider those questions carefully,
you can develop a good action film.
You have to start off by developing the characters.
This is the case with many young Japanese directors lately,
but this approach is quite different from that in America.
When one person uses violence against another,
both sides feel emotions.
His films seem to say, "Were you aware of that fact?"
Old Hollywood movies may have shown this aspect of violence.
People go through emotional experiences when they use violence.
"Don't you want to see this?"
That's what Mr. Fukasaku was saying in his films.
It's entirely different
from cold-blooded killings by a hit man for business.
Nor is it like killing a great number of people with a push of a button.
When a person uses violence against or kills another,
the attacker and the attacked both experience emotions,
emotions that are incredibly complex
but that also reveal a fundamental part of humanity.
Such emotions come out.
So please understand, through Mr. Fukasaku's films,
that such emotions exist.
I myself had my eyes opened through his films.
For Kinji Fukasaku - and this applies to Battle Royale as well -
to quote his own words,
"Violence is like a parasite.
As I lived through the war,
my identity as a person till the age of 15 was formed,
and it is firmly a part who I am.
Therefore, I cannot disapprove of violence completely."
I think violence is a fundamental part of humanity.
Like our belief in love, peace and friendship,
violence is intrinsically within us as a contradictory force.
The issue we have to deal with
is how much violence should be allowed and expressed.
By tackling that issue, Fukasaku tried to delve deeper into who we are.
And what he hated most
was that peace and righteousness have a tendency
to put a lid on stinky, festering things.
He hated that the most.
He thought those unpleasant things must also be looked at
when we think about peace.
So neither Battle Royale nor Battles Without Honor and Humanity
should be rejected just because violence is their theme.
If we do that, then we're only closing our eyes to violence.
Rather, we should look at it straight on and then consider what peace is.
And through Battle Royale and Battles Without Honor and Humanity,
I hope people will think deeply about what friendship is.
The impressiveness of the violence depicted by Fukasaku
really comes down to - as I said before -
what happens to people when they go off to fight.
I don't think everything is tied to his experiences at age 15.
But basically, when we talk about people killing each other,
it's not something you can find beauty in, or wax poetic about.
He makes that very clear. Simply put, it's realism.
Who said you could smoke?
What the fuck? You wanna fight?
Watch your mouth!
You gonna hit me?
What if we are?
What? What d'you mean?
You wanna fight? Come on!
Come on!
I want to use two angles here.
- Once the scuffle begins - - The lower angle is better.
So can you lower both cameras from there?
Who said you could smoke?
What the fuck?
Hey, what the fuck is this?
Hey, somebody!
Go ahead, then! Just kill me!
Do what you want!
If you hurt me, I'm gonna sue you!
Go ahead and sue!
I'll come after you no matter how long it takes!
I've got evidence to put you away!
You wanna be locked up for life?
Ouch!
We can easily add a few slaps in this scene.
With the same setup, let's add some slapping.
A slap there, and then another slap from that side.
You try to get away.
- And then - - Like this?
Yes, that's it. And we stop there.
So we pan up from Taku-bun's feet.
Pan up, and the slaps, and then he tries to get away.
He falls and then tries to get away. We'll shoot close up till that point.
And then we'll go on to what we did in whichever direction.
Camera's rolling.
Ready.
Start!
Hey, what the fuck?
Hey!
Go ahead! Kill me!
If you hurt me,
I'm gonna sue you!
Go ahead and sue!
I'll come after you no matter how long it takes!
I've got evidence to put you away!
You wanna be locked up for life?
All right, okay.
Okay, very good. That was good.