[uncbob]

But "Apocalypto" overcame the baggage of Gibson's personal troubles as well as its difficult subject matter, which features a no-name cast in a hyper-violent tale that includes beheadings and images of hearts ripped from people's chests.

Gibson is a head job that loves blood and gore

[Howard Jarvis Admirer]

If anything, Mel toned down the violence. I remember reading that the Mayans liked to wear the bloody skins of their victims and as the National Geographic magazine put it some years ago, human flesh was a major protein source for the natives before the Spanish civilized South America. Mel alluded to the skinning and the cannibalism, but didn't show it in the movie. History isn't PC and the Noble Savage is a myth.