Apocalypto
Written by Mel Gibson & Farhad Safinia
Directed by Mel Gibson
Touchstone
2006
Rating:


There was some speculation that following the critical firestorm of "The Passion of the Christ's" blatant anti-Semitism Mel Gibson would make a cinematic apologia, his version of "Intolerance," the epic D.W. Griffith made in 1916 in reply to allegations of racism lodged against his civil war movie "The Birth of a Nation." Instead Gibson has made the equally offensive "Apocalypto" and once again given credence to those who consider an entire race of people barbaric.

Expecting a (strangely) Hollywood movie to deliver a thorough lecture on Mayan society isn't necessary, nor is it necessarily desired. "Apocalypto" offends because it presents a clichι and harmful image of a people that continue to be slurred as a savage for factually inaccurate reasons. Gibson's Mayans, far from the real civilization that mastered mathematics, astronomy and geometry centuries before Europeans, are here presented as either childish hunters and gatherers or bloodthirsty urban dwellers. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is a member of the former clan, a stereotypically romantic savage with a wife and child. His idyllic existence is interrupted when he's kidnapped by a bloodthirsty urban tribe in search of human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his pregnant wife and son in a cavern with no means for them to climb out, adding urgency to his need to escape from his captors and save his family.

Gibson has been quoted as saying he essentially had carte blanche to depict the Mayan people as he saw fit because there was no evidence to prove his vision was wrong. Anyone with access to the Internet can learn how erroneous Gibson is in this assertion. "Apocalypto" is riddled with anachronisms, from its mingling of 1000 years of Mayan architecture for his city, implying the Mayans were a stagnant people unable to evolve like Europeans; his use of recently discovered murals in Guatemala as proof of his depiction of human sacrifice, except they depict a creation myth and were painted at least 1500 years before the film's setting; to Gibson's apparent confusion that it was the Mexica, not the Mayans, who committed acts of large-scale human sacrifice. In fact, Mayan sacrifices were generally performed by the royalty on themselves in order to protect people like Jaguar Paw from the anger of the gods.

For most the historical inaccuracies won't be the point — just as "The Passion of the Christ's" rampant sadism and anti-Semitism were largely irrelevant to the millions who saw it — and fans will find Jaguar Paw's flight home after a curiously Holocaust-evoking scene of mass killing to be a unique and exhilarating experience. After all, Gibson himself has admitted to being less interested in making a historical film about Mayan culture than to putting a unique spin on the chase sequence.

Except he hasn't, and comparing "Apocalypto" to the film that got there first is especially revealing.

"Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner" was released in the summer of 2002. Like "Apocalypto," it tells a centuries-old myth of a nearly extinct people, in this case the Inuit, and is told in their native language of Inuktitut just as "Apocalypto" is told in Yukatek Maya. Filmed in digital, just like Gibson's movie, the film's climax features the hero running through the wilderness, in this case barefoot and naked over ice instead of through the jungle.

Rapturously received by critics upon its release four years ago, "Atanarjuat" seems to have slipped the memories of reviewers celebrating Gibson's visceral filmmaking. The difference between the two films is the difference between "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Last Temptation of Christ," namely Gibson's films only have a sadistic interest in humanity while the points of comparison overflow with humanity. Written, directed by and starring Inuits, "Atanarjuat" is also absent of Gibson's racist tourist-eyed view of exotically mystical indigenous characters. "Atanarjuat" is a genuine depiction of a great civilization filled with spirituality, stunning mythology and real people more flesh-and-blood than anyone in "Apocalypto" — and not just because almost everyone in "Atanarjuat" leaves the movie with their flesh-and-blood intact.

Posted Friday, January 5, 2007

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/apocalypto