Dir.
Mel Gibson, US, 2006, 139 mins, subtitles
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer,
Morris Birdyellowhead, Espiridion Acosta Cache
Review by Kevin Holmes
Mel Gibson rips his
new movie from Hollywood like a still-beating heart and
holds it aloft for all to see. “This is what I am here to do” he cries
(probably in Latin or something) “not hound Jews and
mutter anti-Semitic tirades.” Filmed with indigenous
actors, using the Yucatec Mayan language, this film revels
in and earnestly wants us to admire it for its bloody violence
and historical accuracy. Having said that, the narrative
is so conventional that the movie could just as well be set
in any period, and while Mel’s direction remains spectacular – such
as the breathtaking thrill of being chased by an angry jaguar
- the narrative is anything but, taking the form of a generic
chase movie as a plundered village’s inhabitants get
taken to the Mayan Kingdom where one of the villagers, spared
his sacrifice to the sun god due to an eclipse, escapes and
races back to the forest, wife and child he left behind.
It makes for an invigorating ride, one packed with violent
action and head-dizzying chase scenes with the pace never
letting up or allowing the audience an intake of breath.
While the film is ostensibly about
the Mayan Empire’s
last days it could also be read as an analogy of the current
War in Iraq, with the Mayans representing America and the
villagers the Iraqis - showing how a powerful nation can
become corrupt and blind to what it should do, instead choosing
to plunder and move on to the next conquest rather than trying
to live beside and understand those it seeks to conquer,
something that for the Mayan’s ultimately destroyed
them. Against this brutal empire Gibson pits one individual,
Jaguar Paw. Whilst the Mayan civilisation declines, he flourishes,
gaining strength whilst his village is all but obliterated.
It’s Jaguar Paw and his villagers who are treated with
the most humanity in the film and it is they who hold our
sympathies, not the declining Mayans.
One aspect that is truly striking
and impressive is the attention to historical detail, evident
from the high-impact opening scenes, from when we first
see the villagers with their tribal markings, scarring
and weapons, through to meeting the Maya Warband with their
spectacular armour (using both animal and human jaw bones)
and then finally arriving at the Mayan temples. The atmosphere
here is almost tangible, the ecstatic cries of the crowd
fuelling an orgy of human sacrifice, the crowd going wild
for decapitated heads rolling down the front steps of the
pyramids. When the captured villagers arrive smothered
in blue paint - an actual Mayan ritual – the
roar of the crowd is intense, the Dionysian fever threatening
to boil over and spill from the screen, mimicking the human
blood that spills from the sacrificial altar. All this is
orchestrated by the Mayan elite basking at the top of the
step pyramid decked out in all their finest regalia, from
elaborate and beguiling head gear and piercings, to intricate
face and body paintings. It’s not just the leaders
but also the baying crowd who are complete with the face
markings and body paintings, jewellery and decorations, all
splendidly and painfully reconstructed, making for a truly
awesome cinematic spectacle.
Apocalypto demonstrates that Gibson
is an adept and accomplished director who knows how to
handle an audience, his direction whisking the viewer along,
the movie catching us in its slipstream as we’re pulled along into the chase and jungle through
the day and into the night, making us startle and wince every
time a tree branch rebounds into view. It makes for a wholly
refreshing, enthralling, powerful and engaging movie, one
that is only slightly let down by its narrative conventions,
but put that aside and you’re in for a violent, jarring
and thrilling couple of hours.
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