Battle Royale

In a near-future Japan, a randomly selected school class is gassed, fitted with explosive collars, given a bag with a weapon, and told they have three days to reduce themselves to one survivor or all die.

Fukasaku, who had lived through the war as a teenager clearing bodies, made it at 70 as a furious statement about the older generation's willingness to sacrifice the young, and the anger is real.

It was enormously controversial in Japan, debated in the Diet, and had no proper American release for over a decade because of Columbine.

Takeshi Kitano plays the teacher overseeing the game, and the film balances genuine brutality with real feeling for the children, most of whom do not want to play.

It predates and directly influenced The Hunger Games, and it is bleaker and better than any of its imitators.