It seems real. And however you might feel about Gibson or his antics, that's no small achievement.
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When "Apocalypto" was first making its rounds in theaters, people were talking about three things: writer-director Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic tirade, the level of graphic violence in the film, and the curious fact that Gibson was using mostly non-actors and an archaic Yucatec Maya language throughout. Would audiences boycott the film because of his personal missteps? Would they resist it because he was asking too much of audiences? And while we're asking questions, was the violence gratuitous or historically accurate?
Like any other critic, I can't speak for "everyone." I can only speak for myself, and I'd like to concentrate on the film, not Gibson's "I am the reincarnation of Errol Flynn" life. We've got a historical action-drama to discuss, and that's plenty to deal with. I've always felt that a film should be judged on the basis of what it attempts, and nothing more, so I'd like to rate this according to its narrative drama, action sequences, and sense of accuracy.
Narrative Drama?
Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but the man knows how to tell a story. Not much is known of the Maya civilization, and Gibson uses that to his full advantage--which is to say, he embellishes and takes more than a few liberties. We know that from the very beginning, when he establishes a running gag that has an entire village making fun of a man because he can't give his wife a child. In the first five minutes we watch him eat tapir testicles because he's conned into thinking they're an aphrodisiac, and not much later we watch him rub a plant on his privates because the village elder tells him it was what got him 10 children. Moments later, the poor man is screaming and sitting in a trough of water while his wife is trying to rinse out her mouth. And the whole village laughs. Oh, those crazy Mesoamericans. Obviously, there's no historical record to tell us whether these people were jovial and fun-loving or if they were a dead-serious bunch. What remains, then, is whether they feel real, and if you've read or watched William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" you know that it's not far-fetched to believe that a primitive people could be cruel, even in their jokes. It's really very mesmerizing to watch the villagers and their problems--just as it was fascinating to watch John Boorman's world of South American tribal people in "The Emerald Forest."
But the film quickly segues from a National Geographic segment to a personal struggle. Jaguar Paw (played by Rudy Youngblood, a Native American actor from Texas) is the son of Flint Sky, a leader of his tribe who live and hunt in a jungle where the tapir are as big as three men and the howler monkeys are just as daunting. As they're encamped, following the opening bloody hunting sequence, Jaguar Paw senses things in the jungle. He's the first to hear them, which of course establishes him as a hero. It turns out that they are a people wishing to cross their lands because their own have been "ravaged." An occasional word like this stands out because it seems a bit too sophisticated and European, as I'm quite sure that a pre-Columbian people would not have said "He's fucked." When Jaguar Paw's village is attacked by the Maya who live in a great city with big pyramids, it's also a bit jarring to have the chief atop the sacrificial pyramid working the crowd like Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan. But anachronistic moments like these that take us out of the film are thankfully few. It's easy to believe in this film, and just as easy to become involved with Jaguar Paw and his pregnant wife (Dalia Hernandez). We care about what happens to them, and the sequence of events that befalls them happens with such rapid succession that we're swept up in their drama. But "Apocalypto" is also a film that works another cinematic genre.
Action?
There's plenty of exciting action in the hunting sequences, in a great battle against invaders, and, mostly, in the exciting chase which Gibson said he patterned after car chases. Essentially, "Apocalypto" is a captivity narrative that could have been set in the American West, told from the point of view of the captive rather than, as in "The Searchers," those in pursuit. After the village is destroyed and the women and men tied to tree-poles and marched through the jungle and over rivers and mountains to get to the city of the Maya, there's no let-up. Heads roll, literally, down the pyramid. But Jaguar Paw is destined for bigger things. Without spoiling too much, let me just say that I was reminded, as my colleague John J. Puccio was, of "The Naked Prey," which was based on a short story titled "The Most Dangerous Game." But I was also reminded of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" insomuch as the pursuers just keep coming and coming, no matter what the escapee does. And here's where, as with any action film, you have to suspend belief and just roll with it. The average fellow would have collapsed right there if a long arrow went clear through his side. Or the average fellow would certainly have bled more. Then again, adrenalin can do a lot for a person. When I was being pursued once I left these people who wanted to harm me far away--so far that I couldn't see them any more. It only begins to get a little far-fetched when our hero does rather superhuman things to escape his pursuers. But it does make for some great action. Just don't think about it too much.
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