When his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by an invading force, a man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear where a harrowing end awaits him.
Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto' opens with a quote by the late American author & intellectual William H. Durant, which says: "A great civilisation is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within". And irrespective of what one may think of Gibson's personal beliefs, there's no denying that the 'Lethal Weapon' star is one of the most gifted actor/directors of his generation and 'Apocalypto', his forth go behind the camera and first film since controversial religious picture 'The Passion Of The Christ', is nothing less than a Mayan language masterpiece. Set just before the fall of the great Central American civilisation, 'Apocalypto' works as both an epic, occasionally ultraviolet, political allegory for our times, and as a straightforward action-adventure film. A cast of Native American, American Indian and Yucatan actors speaking in the Mayan mother tongue, bring Gibson and Safinia's well researched script to life in the time honoured tradition of cinéma vérité: creating an admirable level of authenticity, which is slightly undermined by the intentional use of modern, sometimes colloquial, subtitles.
'Apocalypto', from the Greek meaning to start anew, follows the journey of young Mayan warrior Jaguar Paw (a good performance by Rudy Youngblood): kidnapped from his village by a marauding, militarily powerful clan of pro-monarchist Mayans, Jaguar Paw, along with all adult males from his tribe, is put on a rendition march to the infamous temple pyramids; where he's to be ritually executed. Divine intervention helps our hero escape and, along with a handful of prisoners, make a desperate dash for home with his captors in hot pursuit. It's a simple but effective story that allows Gibson plenty of room for manoeuvre before Jaguar Paw's escape, and the film's switch from drama to action. You'll marvel at the visually impressive, breathtaking scenes on the temple pyramid; as hapless, soon-to-be-scarified Mayan youths are painted and marched up to its ceremonial alter. Gibson draws parallels between the irrational practice of human sacrifice to appease false gods, to the practice of sending indoctrinated, naïve or disadvantaged youths to invade Iraq. Hence making them human sacrifices for an inherently corrupt economic order / socio-political infrastructure built upon delusion and greed, or as a true believer like Mel might see it, sacrifice to honour the false god mammon (i.e. money): "...What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?" said Gibson at a post-preview junket in 2006. But for all its scope and grandeur, it's the little details and gallows humour which makes this film stand out: the proud Mayan queen tugging her dress away from an annoying kid seconds after a bloody beheading. The naturalistic depiction of Mayan village life, Soanzo leaf remedy and the shifty looking high priest, perhaps a sly dig at Zionism's evangelical TV preachers who, like the Mayan cleric, feign piety to placate the masses with Uriah Heap-esque platitudes, and nonsensical, right-wing rhetoric.
One of the most thought provoking scenes occurs around the campfire with a Mayan elder telling a story, which accurately summarises all that's wrong with the world as it was then, and as it still is today. Apocalypto's second half sees our hero on a frantic trek through the South American jungle, and its here that Gibson shows us that he's remembered a thing or two on how to film a good chase in all those years working with Richard Donner (whose car chase in 'Lethal Weapon 4' is one of the best, and most underrated, stunts in Hollywood history). And since this 'Predator'-esque sequence takes up a lot of screen time, Gibson has to ratchet up the tension and make the sudden bursts of violence look all the more flamboyant and, some may argue, over-the-top. The fluidity of Apocalypto's chase sequence is aided by Gibson's use of Spydercam in conjunction with the new and improved Geneses HD-SDI camera, which, in terms of reducing artifaction and lag, is now on a par with the Sony HD+8 Digital. I believe the evolution of digital moviemaking took as great a leap forward with this film, as it did with 'Collateral' (2004) and will have old school cynics and 35mm aficionados marvelling at the clarity, depth-of-field and versatility of this new medium, which, at long last, seems to formed a stylistic, symbiotic union with its ancestor.
Some historians claim this movie was disrespectful to Mayan culture: portraying them as maniacal savages, and to an extent, its a valid criticism, however, this picture's aim was to show the self-inflicted degradation of a once celebrated and advanced civilisation. A people, as W. Durant noted, who were destroyed from within through decadence and inequity, before they were conquered from without, though I would've liked to have seen an acknowledgement of the fact that those who ultimately conquered the Mayan 'savage' had little to offer but a new and deadlier form of savagery. Mel Gibson has always been one of my favourite actors, and now, I can say with some confidence; that he's also one of my favourite filmmakers: 'Apocalypto' is a great achievement in film, with beautiful cinematography, suspenseful, satisfying and another undisputed triumph in Gibson's directorial career. This Disc features a short making of, an interesting deleted scene and an excellent commentary by the man himself. My hats off to The Man, The Legend, The Gibson: What a guy!
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Mel Gibson (BRAVEHEART THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST) tackles the downfall of Mayan civilization in his latest turn as writerdirector Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and his fellow villagers lead a peaceful life in the forest until a savage unprovoked attack turns their world upside down After hiding his pregnant wife and young son from the invaders Jaguar Paw joins in the fight only to be taken prisoner with the rest of the survivors Uncertain of what the future holds and taken from his home to a thriving metropolis that might as well be a foreign country Jaguar Paw has just one goal--to return to his wife and child Jaguar Paw journey is a coming-of-age saga running the gamut of love loss courage and redemption
Mel Gibson's highly respected and multi-Oscar nominated historical epic set in the ancient Mayan civilization. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is the son of tribal leader Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead) and when their village is viciously attacked by the a raiding party under Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo), he witnesses his father's murder. Jaguar Paw manages to make safe his wife and child in an underground pit with a lone vine for its escape route. He and the other men fight gamely but are brought to heel by Zero Wolf's men. As the raiding party marches their prisoners off the escape vine is cut, trapping mother and child underground. The prisoners are taken to a sacrificial pyramid to prepare for a solar eclipse at which many of them will be brutally and gruesomely dissected. The remaining few (including Jaguar Paw) are let loose in a wide field for sport - Zero Wolf's men raining spears, stones and arrows on them. Jaguar Paw negotiates the suicidal run and, though injured, bypasses a raider 'finisher', Zero Wolf's son, Cut Rock, by killing him. An enraged Zero Wolf pursues Jaguar Paw into the jungle with his fellow raiders. Can Jaguar Paw reach his dying family before the murderous Zero Wolf reaches him?
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