June 13, 2007
Apocalypto
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life. As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw (Youngblood), a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.
The story is set in the pre-Columbian Maya population: one village is brutally overrun, its residents either slaughtered or abducted, by a ruling tribe that needs slaves and human sacrifices. We focus on the capable warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), although Gibson skillfully sketches a whole population of characters--many of whom don't survive the early reels. Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, but the middle section, in a grand Mayan city, is a dazzling triumph of design, costuming, and sheer decadent terror. The movie itself is a triumph of brutality, as Gibson lets loose his well-established fascination with bodily mortification in a litany of assaults including impalement, evisceration, snakebite, and bee stings. It's a dark, disgusted vision, but Gibson doesn't forget to apply some very canny moviemaking instincts to the violence--including the creation of a tremendous pair of villains (strikingly played by Raoul Trujillo and Rodolfo Palacias). The film is in a Maya dialect, subtitled in English, and shot on digital video (which occasionally betrays itself in some blurry quick pans). Amidst all the mayhem, nothing in the film is more devastating than a final wordless exchange of looks between captured villager Blunted (Jonathan Brewer) and his wife's mother (Maria Isabel Diaz), a superb change in tone from their early relationship. Yes, this is an obsessive, crazed movie, but Gibson knows what he's doing. --Robert HortonThis is actually a very decent movie, it almost didn't need subtitles as through the actors very well done performances, you can clearly understand what each and every scene is about. I barely read any of the dialogue.
The images are beautiful, every thing looks impeccably authentic, the picture above of the Aztec priest looking at the eclipsing sun, looks exactly like that in the film, the colors are gorgeous, the costumes so ornate, and the actors just perfectly fit the decorative and stunning costumes and story line.
The movie is hard to watch in a few places, the brute killing rampage that the Aztecs went on, was horrific.
They slaughtered every one they came in contact with except for the people they wanted to capture as slaves or as sacrifices to their God's.
The impalements, neck slicing and be headings, were so real looking, I had to turn away a few times.
They killed who they wanted, kept alive who they wanted, but left the children alive in every village.
One of the most heartbreaking scenes was when one of the now captive mothers turns back as she is being forced to walk through treacherous waters, to see a small group of children on the shore who could not follow, and the oldest child of the group, a young girl looking no more than 10 years old, screams out to the mother;
"Do not worry, they are my children now, I will care for them all!" as all the children now left in her care from babies to kids just a bit younger than her, cry for their dead parents and the parents who are being carted away.
The mother says a small prayer to the God's to keep them safe from harm, but she knows they are not going to survive, you can see this realization in her eyes, on her face.
The main character is a joy to watch, he speaks volumes without uttering a single Mayan word.
Through a series of terrifying events and close calls, he manages to escape and find his way back to his pregnant wife and young son who are slowly going to be drowned in an underground cave where they hid when the invading Aztecs came.
It's raining and he knows he must get back.
He still has to fight off a group of Aztec warriors who are after him for escaping and killing the only son of the warriors leader.
He manages to kill them all and rescue his wife, but as our story ends, Cortez and his Spaniards are arriving on shore armed with guns.
We all know the story of the Aztec civilization from there.
Jaguar paw and his family go into the forest to start a new life and avoid the new invaders.
It is an excellent movie, but very bloody, lots of gore close up, so it's definitely not for the faint of heart.
