Posted on 12/08/2006 4:56:23 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
Mel Gibson is sicker than we thought.
As his new film "Apocalypto" makes clear, he's not just a drinker and a raving anti-Semite, but a man with a grotesque appetite for human suffering and an enormous talent for exploiting it.
There was great violence in "Braveheart," too, but it was cloaked in historical context. And the stripping of Jesus' flesh in "The Passion of the Christ" had the cover of Scripture. But "Apocalypto" exists solely as an action-adventure and a deft cinematic demonstration of man's capacity for cruelty.
This is the true passion of Mel.
If you can take unflinching views of throats being slit, heads being caved in, a man's face being eaten by a panther, beating hearts torn from men's chests and decapitated heads bounding down the steps of a pyramid, you're in for a first-rate spectacle of inhumanity.
"Apocalypto" is set in the final days of the crumbling Mayan civilization, when drought and disease have driven warriors farther into the Mexican rainforest to collect natives for the sacrificial altar. As no one knows better than Gibson, the gods must be appeased.
One captive is Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), a gentle hunter/gatherer who hides his pregnant mate and child in a dry well before being led away. At the temple atop a massive stone pyramid, Jaguar Paw is about to meet his maker - or the Mayans' maker, or at least the priest's knife - when fate intervenes.
A total eclipse of the sun convinces the priest that the gods' thirst for blood has been sated, sparing Jaguar and the other captives. But not for long. They're taken to a field and told to run for freedom while Mayan warriors shower them with spears and arrows.
Somehow, Jaguar clears the gauntlet and races into the jungle toward home and his family, with a band of angry, tattooed spear throwers hot on his trail and a tropical storm brewing overhead.
Is Gibson making some kind of comment about the inhumanity of non-Christian cultures - first the Jews, now the Mayans? "Apocalypto" suggests that the pagans are about to be tamed, if not have their souls saved, by Gibson's Catholic forebears rowing ashore from the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.
More and more, Gibson's personality problems seem beyond the scope of movie reviews.
In any case, "Apocalypto" is the real deal as a jungle thriller. Its digital cinematography is gorgeous, its makeup and costumes are stunning, and its mostly nonpro cast - speaking in obscure Yucatec and translated with subtitles - is as authentic as the jungle of Veracruz where the film was shot.
Now that "Apocalypto" is being seen, four months after Gibson's arrest and tirade in Malibu, some in the media are asking whether Hollywood can forgive him by bestowing an Oscar.
What an ironic possibility! This is a movie dedicated to bloodlust (forget the gods, can the audience's thirst be sated?) and not the sort of thing Academy voters typically honors with awards.
An Oscar would not be forgiveness; it would be blindness.
My, my. This reviewer has a bloody axe to grind, eh?
So portraying a bunch of heart-eating savages as ... well, a bunch of heart-eating savages is wrong? Do these same "critics" condemn "Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part MMCCCXXIIV" or "Saw?" Or is gore only wrong when it serves a conservative filmmaker?
If you can find the time, I recommend 'The Nativity Story' instead of this movie.
Lets just say they weren't the friendly Mertz family living next door........
After a pair of flawed Oscar-hunting epics, Martin Scorsese has returned to the gritty, violent mob drama that has always been his strong suit, and the result - "The Departed" - is his best film since 1990's "Goodfellas."
With young stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon finally fulfilling their promise, and wily veteran Jack Nicholson adding another indelible character to his rich gallery, "The Departed" gets off to a ripping start and doesn't let up until its third or fourth twist ending.
One can quibble about too many endings, and about a love triangle that belongs in another story. But no one can complain about not getting their money's worth. "The Departed" is a movie-movie of the first rank.
Would I want to live next door to people who would buy tickets to see Apocalypto and afterwards report that they enjoyed the movie?
Wouldn't Mayans have been able to accurately predict when eclipses would occur? We are supposed to believe that all of a sudden one happens without them knowing and surprises them enough to alter their ritual practices. Is there any historical evidence for this or is it all from the mind of Mel?
You're right. Hollywood USUALLY does love violence and R-rated movies. I'm at the point where I avoid them. Besides 'The Nativity Story,' I also recommend 'The Queen.'
Why does the author of the review assume that this is NOT an accurate historical portrayal of the Mayan culture?
actually north american indians were a mixed bag. There were vicious tribes, so-so tribes, and peaceful tribes. Of course the PC left doesnt' do nuance, so they have to make them all sit around singing Kumbaya.
They were able to predict eclipses. But you're spoiling the fun with facts.
I learned more about the reviewer than the movie from this review.
I suggest Mr. Movie Reviewer find a good shrink and a good priest/minister/rabbi of his choice.
"Most Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, and North American Indians were all peace loving perfect cultures."
Yes and they never ran herds of buffalo over cliffs to cut out only the tongues and they never started massive forest fires to facilitate travel.
Maybe he knows that it isn't accurate.
They weren't sweetness and light but this portrayal gets plenty of details wrong.
If being an anti semite and saying this movie shows how Bush sacrifices our sodliers in a war that's wrong...that's a conservative?
nah, Mel just makes snuff films for the massess. the guy is an arrogant self centered violent-loving jerk.
I'm really sick and tired of people justifying this garbage with that phony justification. What's next? Mel doing a movie about the Nazi's and showing people slow roasting in some oven for 15 minutes, or 60 minutes of Gestapo torture, in 'exciting', high-def detail?
Or, to paraphrase Chuck D from the rap group Public Enemy:
"The Hater taught hate-- that's why we (sic) gang bangin'"
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