"The School Duel" is a razor-sharp social satire (only American society), but the criticism does not get fanatically rammed down your throat, and that is a very good thing. In Florida, in the near future, the extremely conservative governor has a supposedly brilliant idea to curb the ever-increasing number of high school shootings. Once a year, the bad apples (or potential mass murderers?) from all schools are selected through a dubious process and placed opposite each other in a field to play a fierce game of paintball.... But with real AK47s, shotguns, and pistols.
A successful feature film directorial debut for Todd Wiseman Jr., which brings a sort of mix between "Battle Royale" and "Bowling for Columbine", only more subtle. The film is very low-budget, but that actually benefits the production, because the simplistic sets, the black-and-white photography, and the limited background information about the characters only reinforce the raw & disturbing atmosphere. The violence was a bit disappointing, but that may also be due to the low budget. At the end, Wiseman Jr. Does conjure up a nice trick that successfully misled me (and the rest of the audience in the room). Worth a look.
