Aaaah, this made film history.... (And the book is great, too, btw.) And for that reason alone it should be watched, just like Star Wars or Citizen Kane or classics alike. I am old enough that I had the joy to watch this movie shortly after its release, so I didn't have to compare it to nowaday standards. Back then, it was top nodge and of course, the story and setting were something totally new to me as a Westerner. You gotta be warned, if you didn't know this beforehand, but this is not a happy story. Set in a futuristic alternative Japan, each year a class is selected to be sent on an island where the pupils have to battle each other until only one stays alive. Of course, this is a rather radical setting, and one has just to accept it, because the interesting thing is what happens psychologically later. As the fighting continues, many emotional developments occur, as is epected when humans are pushed to their limits. And as a viewer one keeps asking oneself "What would I have done?" It is not a flamboyant fantasy story like Hunger Games (which I always saw as rip-off of this idea here), it is not Hollywood, it is a stab in your heart and your brain, and either are you a viewer who enjoys this ... or not. Other than other reviewers, I give this a very high rewatch value (I have seen it about 6 times myself), because each time you get the occasion to focuse more on the psychological aspects rather than the slaughter itself. It's just one of those movies, which can offer deep insight if you give it some time. To those who liked it a lot, I recommend the book, it gives a deeper inside into the persons' feelings and thoughts and enriches the experience by this.