Mel Gibson Finds Eternal GORY in 'Apocalypto' Movie

New York Daily News ^ | 12/8/06

[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.

[Dajjal]

It's a masterpiece.

[Antoninus]

Wonder if the person who wrote this is Pro-Choice?

I think you may be on to something there...

[Antoninus]

However, we are supposed to try to overcome this as civilized people, not wallow in it.

He who does not know history is condemned to repeat it--as we are doing now at the rate of about 1,800 babies per day.

[Antoninus]

The actors. They were amazing. In particular the "hero" and main "villain" were just incredible. One of the most memorable villains in film history. The actors do so much with their eyes and expressions. And they are all complete unknowns--I can't even imagine how his casting director found them.

Easy. It doesn't take $40 million per film to find a good actor. I believe it's all about the director and his ability to find *genuine* people to fill the roles as his vision sees them. Mel Gibson has had some of the most incredibile unknowns in his films.

[Antoninus]

Mel is building a case for Jesus through a series of movies. And yes, he is that smart.

I agree. God speed, Mel.

[CharacterCounts]

And they are all complete unknowns--

Most of the "known" actors can't act. The ones that can act usually become character actors - not stars.

[Antoninus]

Uh, yeah, sure. I suppose Hitler and Stalin were doing the same....just ran out of time to make the connection to Jesus.

You're comparing Mel Gibson to Hitler and Stalin?

Put ... down ... the ... bong.

[Antoninus]

Indians also manipulated the land to improve hunting. Upland wooded areas from east to west were burned to remove the undergrowth and increase forage for deer, elk, and bison. Indeed, because of this burning, it's possible that fewer "old growth" forests existed in the Pacific Northwest when the first Europeans arrived than exist today.

Not to mention the Eastern Woodlands tribes habit of setting up a village, tilling the soil to exhaustion and hunting everything in sight for a few years. Once the game got too scarce, the soil worn out, and the timber far enough away, they simply burnt the village and moved someplace else to start over again. That's assuming they weren't annihihlated by their enemies from other tribes first.

[fish hawk]

Read my profile and shut up.

[zot]

Afterwords the rest of the crowd there would EAT what was left of him. Cortez wrote of this in his diary when he conquered Latin America.

Yes. This point is routinely overlooked. The Mayans and Aztecs didn't have sheep or goats or any kind of cattle. Their pyramids provided the municipal meat supply.

[TAdams8591]

"My theory is that not only is Gibson fascinated with violence"

And with the most grotesque and horrific violence, to say the least. The violence in "The Passion" was overdone. I don't believe any man could have survived the whipping Jesus took as the movie portrayed it, let alone afterwards, carried his own cross. I could not watch that entire scene and had to step out of the theater.

The violence in Apocalypto may be accurate, the ancient Mayans were horrifically cruel, and the movie may be well done, but I have no desire to see it.

I agree with your post. Mel has a problem.

[razorback-bert]

The Smith brothers' book about their life with the Comanches details their killing a pony and eating a meal leaving the rest to rot.

Great book by two bothers kidnapped and raised by the Comanches in West Texas.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

It was hyperbole (sp?) to post 59.

No one caught the "analogy".

[red irish]

The other night on O'Reilly they were discussing what is going on with Islam and compared it to the Nazi's. Just like back then as now, many people did not see the real threat of what was coming. And now the dems are in control! Scarey.

[red irish]

Of course they are prochoice. Millions dead but hollywood is complaining about a movie.

[Porterville]

I'm still upset about his recent anti Israel, anti Jew, tirade....

[Twinkie]

Any time I see large companies of "soldiers" all in uniform with one arm stuck straight up and out stiffly and goose stepping, it gives me the chills . . I particularly despise that dam goose stepping.

[eleni121]

What a fantastic film on so many levels!

Sure there is blood but not even a quarter of what is regularly shown in the mind numb Hollywood flicks these days. If anything the bloodletting is tastefully depicted. The realism of violence if you will - is mollified by camera angles and sound...so while you think you see the jaguar eating the man's head - you really don't. And what is so gosh darned bad about depicting what must have been a most brutal time in Maya/Toltec/Aztec history and making a statement about man's inhumanity and how the seeds of destruction are contained in the mayhem and inhumanity of civilization?

Gibson proves that he has mastered his craft and utilizes the artistic skills of cinema masters.

I saw it today with some of my film students and we agree ---superb.

[spanalot]

"Read my profile and shut up."

What do you mean "shut up"? This is Free Republic, not the Republic of China. And what does your geneology have to do with the truth?

And if you think colonial indian hunters were bad, modern indian hunters are not much better.

I have hunted throughout Canada and time after time, I was astounded at the amount of poaching and waste - in the words of one indian, "F___ the law - I'm a native".

[spanalot]

"The Smith brothers' book about their life with the Comanches details their killing a pony and eating a meal leaving the rest to rot."

The mongols used to cut a vein on their horses and drink the blood for nourishment when the going got tough.