Apocalypto is a 2006 American epic action-adventure film directed by Mel Gibson.

Set in Yucatan, Mexico, during the declining period of the Maya civilization, Apocalypto depicts the journey of a Mesoamerican tribesman who must escape human sacrifice and rescue his family after the capture and destruction of his village. The film features a cast of Mayas, and some other people of Native American descent. Its Yucatec Maya dialogue is accompanied by subtitles. While hunting tapir in the Mesoamerican jungle in the early 16th century, Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), his father Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead), and their fellow tribesmen encounter a procession of traumatized refugees. Speaking in Yucatec Maya, the group's leader explains that their lands were ravaged, and asks for permission to pass through the jungle. When Jaguar Paw and his tribesmen return home, Flint Sky tells his son not to let the refugees' fear infect him. The next morning, after Jaguar Paw wakes from a nightmare involving the refugee leader, he sees warriors entering the village and setting the huts on fire. The raiders, led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo), attack and subdue the villagers. Jaguar Paw slips out with his pregnant wife Seven (Dalia Hernndez) and his little son Turtles Run, lowering them by vine into a deep vertical cave, tying the vine off so they could climb out later. Jaguar Paw then kills a raider and returns to help the village. He is eventually subdued and a raider named Middle Eye (Gerardo Taracena), whom Jaguar Paw almost killed, slits Flint Sky's throat while the bound Jaguar Paw can only watch. Before the raiders leave with their prisoners, Snake Ink, one of the raider captains, notices Jaguar Paw staring toward the cave. Suspicious of the tied off vine hanging into the cave, he cuts it, trapping Seven and Turtles Run. Jaguar Paw and the other captives are then led off into the jungle. A short distance from the village they join another group of raiders who have captured the refugees Jaguar Paw met the day before. Later, Cocoa Leaf, a wounded captive tied to the same pole as Jaguar Paw nearly tumbles off a cliff, but Jaguar Paw and the others are able to pull him back up with incredible effort. Though Middle Eye, who is guarding them, is impressed by this show of brute power, he kills Cocoa Leaf by cutting him loose and pushing him off the cliff to taunt Jaguar Paw. The raiding party march toward a Mayan city, encountering razed forests and failed maize crops, along with villages decimated by plague. A small girl dying of plague prophesies that a man running with a jaguar will bring the raiders to those who will scratch out the earth and end their world. In the city's outskirts, where the prisoners come upon slaves working in lime quarries, the female captives are sold as slaves while the males are escorted to the top of a step pyramid. The high priest sacrifices several captives, including Jaguar Paw's friend Curl Nose, by cutting out their beating hearts before beheading them. When Jaguar Paw is about to be sacrificed, a solar eclipse (also prophesied by the girl) occurs. The high priest looks at the king and the two share a knowing smile while the people below panic at the phenomenon. The priest declares the sun god Kukulkan is satisfied with the sacrifices. He asks Kukulkan to let light return to the world and the eclipse passes. The crowd cheers in amazement and the priest orders that the remaining captives be led away and disposed of. Zero Wolf takes the captives to a ball court. The captives are released in pairs and forced to run the length of the open space within the ball court, offering Zero Wolf's men some target practice, with a cynical promise of freedom should they reach the end of the field alive. Zero Wolf's son, Cut Rock, is sent to the end of the field to "finish" any survivors. The raiders target the runners with javelins, arrows, and large stones. The first pair are Jaguar Paw's last living friends, Smoke Frog and Blunted. Smoke Frog is

struck by a heavy stone, then finished off by Cut Rock while Blunted is impaled through the stomach by a javelin. Next up are Jaguar Paw and the refugee leader from the beginning. Although they almost make it, the refugee leader is shot through the head by an arrow and Jaguar Paw is shot through the side of his stomach by an arrow. As Cut Rock approaches to finish Jaguar Paw, the not-quite-dead Blunted trips Cut Rock to buy Jaguar Paw time. Cut Rock gets up and savagely kills Blunted then turns to finish off Jaguar Paw, but is stabbed through the neck with an arrowhead by Jaguar Paw, who then stumbles away toward the jungle. As Cut Rock bleeds out with Zero Wolf easing him into the next life, Jaguar Paw runs through a withered maize field and an open mass grave before finally reaching the jungle. The enraged Zero Wolf and his men pursue Jaguar Paw into the jungle and back toward Jaguar Paw's home. Along the way, one of the raiders is killed by a black jaguar angered by Jaguar Paw. Another raider is killed when a venomous snake bites his neck. Eventually, after running all night, Jaguar Paw finds himself caught between a high waterfall and his hunters and is forced to jump. He survives and declares from the riverbank below that the raiders are now in his homelands, echoing his father's challenge to the refugees at the beginning of the film. After listening to Jaguar Paw's challenge, Snake Ink says they should climb down after Jaguar Paw but is stabbed by Zero Wolf for his suggestion. Zero Wolf then commands that he and his men jump the falls and in shock, they all jump as well. While most make it alive, one smashes his head on the rocks below and is killed. The remaining men swim to the shore and re-start their pursuit, but soon Jaguar Paw, now camouflaged in mud, kills one raider with poison darts, only to immediately confront Middle Eye, bludgeoning him to death with the Mayan war club of the raider he just killed. However, much to Jaguar Paw's worries, it begins raining heavily, with the cave where Jaguar Paw's wife and son are trapped starting to flood. As he rushes to save his family, Jaguar Paw is confronted by Zero Wolf and shot again with an arrow. As Zero Wolf advances to finish Jaguar Paw he is impaled and killed by a trap meant for hunting tapir. Following Zero Wolf's death, the two remaining raiders chase Jaguar Paw out to a beach where, much to the surprise of all three of them, they encounter Spanish ships anchored off the coast, with soldiers making their way ashore. The amazement of the raiders allows Jaguar Paw to flee. He returns into the forest to pull his wife and son out of the flooded pit where they are hiding, and where Seven has just given birth to a healthy second son. As the reunited family look out from the forest towards the Spanish ships, Seven wonders if they should go to the strangers, but Jaguar Paw tells his family to return with him to the forest. They head into the jungle in search of a new beginning. [edit]Cast Apocalypto has been criticized for portraying a type of human sacrifice which was more typical of the Aztecs than of the Maya. Archaeologist Lisa Lucero said, "the classic Maya really didn't go in for mass [13] sacrifice. That was the Aztecs." Anthropology professor Karl Taube argued that, "We know the Aztecs [51] did that level of killing. Their accounts speak of 20,000." According to the film's technical advisor, the film was meant to describe the post-classic period of the Maya when fiercer influences like the Toltecs and Aztecs arrived. According to Hansen, "We know warfare was going on. The Postclassic center of Tulum is a walled city; these sites had to be in defensive positions. There was tremendous Aztec influence by this time. The Aztecs were clearly ruthless in their conquest and pursuit of sacrificial

victims, a practice that spilled over into some of the Maya areas." Anthropology professor Stephen Houston made the criticism that sacrifice victims were more likely to be royalty and elites rather than [51] common forest dwellers, as shown in Apocalypto. In contrast, Associate Professor William R. Fowler states that for major favors, worshippers "offered the gods human sacrifice, usually children, slaves, or [52] prisoners of war". Anthropology professor Karl Taube criticized the film's apparent depiction of [51] widespread slavery, saying, "We have no evidence of large numbers of slaves." Another disputed scene, when Jaguar Paw and the rest of captives are used as target practice, was acknowledged by the filmmakers to be invented as a plot device for igniting the chase [13] sequence. Some anthropologists objected to the presence of a huge pit filled with rotting corpses near [12] their fields of the Maya. Richard D. Hansen acknowledges that this is "conjecture", saying that "all [13] [Gibson was] trying to do there is express the horror of it". The Washington Post reported that the famous Bonampak murals were digitally altered to show a warrior [53] holding a dripping human heart, which is not present in the original. [edit]Arrival of the Spaniards According to the DVD commentary track by Mel Gibson and Farhad Safinia, the ending of the film was meant to depict the first contact between the Spaniards and Mayas that took place in 1502 during the [54] fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus. The thematic meaning of the arrival of the Europeans is a subject of disagreement. Traci Ardren wrote that the Spanish arrivals were Christian missionaries and that the film had a "blatantly colonialmessage that the Mayas needed saving because they were "rotten at the core". According to Ardren, the Gibson film "replays, in glorious big-budget technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserved, in fact they needed, [47] rescue. This same idea was used for 500 years to justify the subjugation of Maya people". On the other hand, David van Biema questions whether the Spaniards are portrayed as saviors of the Mayas, since [55] they are depicted ominously and Jaguar Paw decides to return to the woods. This view is supported by the reference of the Oracle Girl to those who would "Scratch out the earth. Scratch you out. And end your world." However, recalling the opening quote to the film ("A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within"), professors David Stuart and Stephen Houston have [45] written the implication is that the Maya are so evil that they were "a civilization...that deserves to die." [edit]Lawsuits In early 2007 filmmaker Mel Gibson, his production company Icon Productions, and the film's distributor Buena Vista (Disney) were sued by Mexican filmmaker Juan Catlett who claims that Gibson used scenes [56] from his 1991 film Return to Aztlan in Apocalypto and that the films shared similar plotlines.
Apocalypto is a gorgeous film. The sets, CGI, cinematography, costumes, and make-up are first rate, vividly recapturing the heydays of the Mayans. The acting from Rudy Youngblood as the films hero on down to the shrieking mother-in-law men might well relate to is, without question, spot-on. Even Mel Gibsons decision to go with the Yucatec language, which necessitated the use of subtitles, works perfectly within the confines of the film. However, a beautifully crafted production and tremendous performances cant disguise the fact this is one of the most disgustingly violent, pointless pieces of art in decades. Gibsons fascination with seeing almost naked men tortured continues with Apocalypto. But while Braveheart and Passion of The Christ had the benefit of an interesting story to go along with the bloodshed, Apocalypto appears to be all about showcasing violence for violences sake. Only by reading the films production notes did I get any sense of what Gibson and co-writer Farhad Safinia were trying to get across to audiences. However, moviegoers watching one brutally violent death after another arent going to have the benefit of referring to notes. Gibsons goal may have been to relate the collapse of the ancient Mayan

[10]

civilization with the corruption and chaos of our modern world, but thats not how Apocalypto plays out. Gibsons aim is way off target and whats laid out on the screen becomes a bloody blur of maiming, torturing, and killing, seemingly without end and mostly without meaning. The film opens with a small group of 16th century Mayans celebrating the kill of a tapir by distributing the innards to members of the hunting group. One of the films only light moments comes during this opening scene when a member of the happy hunting party is tricked into eating the testicles so that he might finally be able to impregnate his wife.
Touchstone Pictures

The tone dramatically shifts almost immediately following this scene as the peaceful tribes village is set upon by a group of marauding Mayans bent on destroying the village by slicing and dicing their way through its inhabitants (babies are not spared nor are women and young children). The men who are in good health are captured, chained to long poles, and forced to march to the Mayan temple. The newly captured slaves have only a gruesome death to look forward to at the end of their trek. Once in the Mayan city, these men are set to be sacrificed to the gods in order to stop the drought and end the spread of disease throughout the land. Their hearts will be carved out (it is just as gory as it sounds) and displayed to cheers from the mob. Their heads will be chopped off and tossed down the temple stairs, followed shortly by their lifeless bodies (Gibson isnt satisfied with displaying these images once but for some reason feels the need to do so multiple times from different angles). Our hero Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) who, prior to being captured, was able to lower his pregnant wife and young son into a pit for safekeeping, is determined not to die. His struggle to stay alive against immeasurable odds sets the stage for the films final act, a lengthy chase sequence loaded with plenty of grisly deaths, including a scene in which a jaguar eats the face off of one of Jaguar Paws enemies. Unlike Gibsons Passion of The Christ, other than a handful of scholars there isnt a built in audience for Apocalypto. Just because youve got the power and clout to create a $40+ million film set in the last days of the Mayan Empire doesnt mean you should. Spending that much money to create a film in which the story isnt there, a movie in which the audience is left numb from watching two and a half hours of women, men, children, babies, and animals being tortured and/or slaughtered, in my book at least, is not money well-spent. Im not a history scholar and Im not going to claim to have any knowledge of the Mayan culture. Apparently Gibson and company did their homework and by most accounts represent well that time in history and the culture of the Mayans. Whether Apocalypto is a fair representation of the culture doesnt matter in the least if the only thing accomplished by the movie is displaying as many ways as possible to mutilate and kill. Apocalypto is an exploitative, over-the-top, and nauseatingly pointless display of bloodshed devoid of any real story. Forget the richness of the culture, Gibson only wants to show the cruelty inflicted on the innocent by those deemed to be more powerful. Gibson succeeds in doing that, but fails in most other respects. Apocalypto is a Mel Gibson movie and with the TV spots, trailers, interviews, and other media exposure there is no way to ignore that fact. Trying to do so would be akin to ignoring the elephant in the middle of the room. There will be those who are disgusted by the very idea of buying a ticket to support anything Gibsons attached to. Others will be equally as passionate about their support of the controversial actor/producer/director. Gibsons become a publicity lightning rod and good or bad, Disney and its marketing department have to work with what theyve been handed. That said, I actually hope people can set aside their personal feelings about the man and judge Apocalypto based solely on its artistic merit (although I believe it has next to none). GRADE: F Apocalypto was directed by Mel Gibson and is rated R for sequences of graphic violence and disturbing images.

User Reviews
5 out of 5

Interesting story, Member Jocotio54 Despite all the negative reviews and commentaries against this movie, I would say that a lot of people are really missing the point or the message of this story which could not be told in a more realistic and graphic way as Mel Gibson did it here. There is no question that the Mayan Empire was in total decay at the time the Spaniards arrive on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Their religious fanaticism and disrespect of the villagers and people of lower hierarchies whom they discarded as material for their idiotic sacrifices made them become the center of the hatred of the surrounding towns and villages, mostly living in the deep of the forest. By the time Mr. Columbus came around, our Mayan friends were already on their way to destruction and Mel Gibson describes it almost as it really happened in this interesting tale. Probably the main reason of all the negative reviews is just simply because Mr. Gibson did not cast people like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio as the main characters but instead he decided to cast actual and real actors who according to what I saw, performed their roles with total realism and nature, like if they were born for their part in the movie. For the story to make sense, it could not be told in any other way. Of course there is a lot of violence and semi-naked bodies in there because that's how the Mayans lived on those days. You could not try to present a movie or a play about the native Americans by making the actors wear Europeans suites, shirts, pants and shoes that had nothing to do with how people dressed at that time and place. Instead of being pornographic as some comments try to imply, I would say that it was much better to have the actors look like real Mayans. You don't really need to be a trained movie critic to see what really was in Mel Gibson's mind when he decided to make this movie. The more I watch it, the more mystified I am about the whole event of the Mayan empire's defeat. Actually, the Spaniards did not really defeat them because they were already defeated by their own religious fantasies and the cruelty with which they treated all their neighbors. The Spaniards just came to finish the job already done throughout the centuries by the oppressed and enslaved majority of the Mayan citizens, who did not have a clue of why the priests and the other religious leaders were sacrificing them. The same way the Roman and many other empires had disappeared all the time. And that, I am sure, was what Mel Gibson was trying to tell us in this wonderful story.