R
Rolltide
Guest
Well, at long last, I’ve been able to see Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a Latin American historian by profession, and several people on here have asked me for my insight into the movie. So, here it goes…
First, this is quite a piece of filmmaking, and it’s going to be divisive. It’s the kind of movie that you’ll either be seriously impressed with, or you’ll hate it. I can honestly say it’s unlike pretty much anything that’s ever been shown on screen before, and that’s pretty rare. There’s never been a movie dealing with this subject matter. It’s also shot in an exceptionally interesting manner. The imagry is gorgeous, and the scenes are set up so well, that even though the movie is entirely in the Yucatec Mayan language, it doesn’t matter. In fact, you wouldn’t even need the subtitles to follow along with this movie. The story tells itself visually, and it’s absolutely clear what’s going on. That said, the subtitles are intriguing, and a couple of the translations are particularly funny in and of themselves.
Second, and let me emphasize this, this is a supremely violent movie. HOWEVER… and this is a big however… none of that violence is gratuitous. Each incident of violence has a purpose and a place, whether that be images of war, or the brutatlity of human sacrifice. The story could not be told without it. In fact, the movie features a very interesting dichotomy, in that we become so sympathetic to the main characters, even as the civilization itself is repulsive in many aspects. Just to be clear on this, I’m going to give you some examples of the type of violence witnessed in this film. If you don’t think you can handle it, you should stay away. It includes:
Human sacrifice, including graphic, closeup images of human hearts, still beating, being cut out of live, conscious humans, who are then decapitated. Their heads and bodies are then thrown down the stairs of the pyramids, and the citizens, including infants, are anointed in the victim’s blood.
Bloodletting rituals, involving cutting open the hand.
Brutal hand-to-hand combat, including a man clubbed in the head so viciously that blood spurts in huge gushing blasts from his temple.
The killing of animals, including tapirs, monkeys, and a jaguar.
This is a movie with a message. That message is, “A civilization with no respect for life or the environment is doomed to eventual destruction”. A really well-done aspect of this movie is that it covers all of the bases historically about why the Maya may have collapsed. We see warfare, drought, insect plagues, disease, overpopulation, and environmental degredation. None is forwarded as the absolute cause, but all are ominous, and it doesn’t take a historian to see that each of these could have been a serious threat to the Maya. It is not the Classic Maya civilization as many have thought, however. What we see on film is the Post-Classic Maya. Now, for most of you, this makes no difference. However, this is a major point. The Classic Maya, although they practiced human sacrifice, did so on a much smaller scale, were spread out over a much larger area, and had a trade network that extended from Arizona to Panama. Had Mel Gibson decided to pursue this period, the more positive aspects of Maya culture may have stood out, such as their calender, which was more accurate than our own, the invention of chocolate, the number 0, their writing system, and their impressive construction. As it is, we see all of that, but it’s all overshadowed by the human sacrifice. Sacrifice became more prominent during the Post-Classic revival, as the Toltecs from the city of Tula, in east-central Mexico, were pushed out by the Aztecs and moved into Maya lands, bringing with them the increased thirst for blood.
The Post-Classic Maya also lived ONLY in the Yucatan peninsula That’s problematic, because the film is shot near Veracruz. Anyone who’s ever been to Cancun, Cozumel, or the Yucatan peninsula knows that it’s extremely flat, and that there are almost no rivers. The scenery in this movie includes rivers and hills. To be fair, this is a minor quibble, as there are areas of the southern Yucatan and Guatamala that look just like this, where Classic Maya lived. You would have found Maya in areas like that, just not between 1100-1500. This film has to be set between 1400-1520, due to some of the specific things we see in the film.
continued…
First, this is quite a piece of filmmaking, and it’s going to be divisive. It’s the kind of movie that you’ll either be seriously impressed with, or you’ll hate it. I can honestly say it’s unlike pretty much anything that’s ever been shown on screen before, and that’s pretty rare. There’s never been a movie dealing with this subject matter. It’s also shot in an exceptionally interesting manner. The imagry is gorgeous, and the scenes are set up so well, that even though the movie is entirely in the Yucatec Mayan language, it doesn’t matter. In fact, you wouldn’t even need the subtitles to follow along with this movie. The story tells itself visually, and it’s absolutely clear what’s going on. That said, the subtitles are intriguing, and a couple of the translations are particularly funny in and of themselves.
Second, and let me emphasize this, this is a supremely violent movie. HOWEVER… and this is a big however… none of that violence is gratuitous. Each incident of violence has a purpose and a place, whether that be images of war, or the brutatlity of human sacrifice. The story could not be told without it. In fact, the movie features a very interesting dichotomy, in that we become so sympathetic to the main characters, even as the civilization itself is repulsive in many aspects. Just to be clear on this, I’m going to give you some examples of the type of violence witnessed in this film. If you don’t think you can handle it, you should stay away. It includes:
Human sacrifice, including graphic, closeup images of human hearts, still beating, being cut out of live, conscious humans, who are then decapitated. Their heads and bodies are then thrown down the stairs of the pyramids, and the citizens, including infants, are anointed in the victim’s blood.
Bloodletting rituals, involving cutting open the hand.
Brutal hand-to-hand combat, including a man clubbed in the head so viciously that blood spurts in huge gushing blasts from his temple.
The killing of animals, including tapirs, monkeys, and a jaguar.
This is a movie with a message. That message is, “A civilization with no respect for life or the environment is doomed to eventual destruction”. A really well-done aspect of this movie is that it covers all of the bases historically about why the Maya may have collapsed. We see warfare, drought, insect plagues, disease, overpopulation, and environmental degredation. None is forwarded as the absolute cause, but all are ominous, and it doesn’t take a historian to see that each of these could have been a serious threat to the Maya. It is not the Classic Maya civilization as many have thought, however. What we see on film is the Post-Classic Maya. Now, for most of you, this makes no difference. However, this is a major point. The Classic Maya, although they practiced human sacrifice, did so on a much smaller scale, were spread out over a much larger area, and had a trade network that extended from Arizona to Panama. Had Mel Gibson decided to pursue this period, the more positive aspects of Maya culture may have stood out, such as their calender, which was more accurate than our own, the invention of chocolate, the number 0, their writing system, and their impressive construction. As it is, we see all of that, but it’s all overshadowed by the human sacrifice. Sacrifice became more prominent during the Post-Classic revival, as the Toltecs from the city of Tula, in east-central Mexico, were pushed out by the Aztecs and moved into Maya lands, bringing with them the increased thirst for blood.
The Post-Classic Maya also lived ONLY in the Yucatan peninsula That’s problematic, because the film is shot near Veracruz. Anyone who’s ever been to Cancun, Cozumel, or the Yucatan peninsula knows that it’s extremely flat, and that there are almost no rivers. The scenery in this movie includes rivers and hills. To be fair, this is a minor quibble, as there are areas of the southern Yucatan and Guatamala that look just like this, where Classic Maya lived. You would have found Maya in areas like that, just not between 1100-1500. This film has to be set between 1400-1520, due to some of the specific things we see in the film.
continued…
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I can’t wait to see it!
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