Review: Apocalypto (2006)
samseescinema
reviewed by Sam Osborn
Director: Mel Gibson
Screenplay: Mel Gibson, Farhad Safinia
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez
MPAA Classification: R (sequences of graphic violence and disturbing
images)
I've never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mel Gibson. But if I had,
I think I'd see Apocalypto as a filmic manifestation of himself:
passionate, intense, and just a little absurd. You can tell how Gibson
approaches his films, Apocalypto in particular. He charges at them like
a pissed-off Toro in the bullfighter's ring. He immerses himself
completely in the story's culture, going to painstaking lengths to
bury us in details even when the story's as shallow as a Honduran
puddle in the dry season. But I admire a filmmaker like him. There's
a kind of purity in his style that insists upon long, epic, immersive
pictures. Not to mention they're more violent than Mad Max on
amphetamines.
Like the upcoming Children of Men, Apocalypto drops us by the collar
into a civilization not our own and doesn't bother with exposition.
But since the men are wearing thongs and the women are topless, it
doesn't take long for us to figure out we're in the midst of Mayan
rule. Our hero is Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), a wily young man whose
father has shown him the ways of the forest and the skills of the
hunter. His wife, Seven (Dalia Hernandez), and their son, Turtles Run
(Carlos Emilio Baez), live humbly in the village with all the rest,
working and listening to the prophetic tales of the elders. This fine,
happy life collapses though, as the Mayan kingdom begins ravaging its
own villages for sacrifice to the gods. Take my explanation with a
grain of salt however, because none of this clearly explained in the
film; it's just what we manage to extrapolate from the man painted in
orange lopping off heads. Anyway, while Jaguar Paw's village is being
razed, he manages to lower his wife and son into a deep, unexplained
hole, hiding them from the massacre. And even as he's being strung to
the rest of the village's survivors and led to the acropolis for
sacrifice, Jaguar Paw must plan his escape so he can rescue his family
from certain death at the hands of a rainstorm.
Like his other films, Apocalypto is a simple contraption. Its
surrounding details, as thick as they might be, still betray the
simplicity of its story. And at its heart, Apocalypto is little more
than a rowdy chase film. A good 90 minutes of it finds Jaguar Paw
sprinting barefoot through the forest with a band of hunters closing in
behind him. And so it's not hard to understand Touchstone's
original July release slating for the film, as it probably will appeal
to young men as much as to the Academy. But as Braveheart and Passion
of the Christ have proven, simplicity isn't a problem for Mr. Gibson.
Either is violence, apparently. Braveheart shocked us early on with a
swift beheading, and Jesus took lashings so brutal that Roger Ebert
named Passion of the Christ the most violent film he had ever seen. So
for Apocalypto, which pulls focus on one of the most vicious
civilizations in history, violence is an obvious requisite. But, as
usual with Gibson's work, the indulgence with violence brims upon
excessive. It's not that I believe Mr. Gibson to be a sadist; but
rather I think he has no other way as a director to channel his
audience's emotions. It seems to be a weakness of his; one that puts
characters second fiddle to blood and guts. Granted, in Apocalypto, a
certain level of brutality is absolutely required for us to believe in
Gibson's Mayan world. But there are times when the film just revels
in the bloodshed.
If nothing else though, Apocalypto is earnest. From the visuals-by
Dancing with Wolves veteran Dean Semler-to the decision to use a
nearly dead language, and to the casting of all no-name natives, Gibson
has lunged at this picture with all his might. And for the most part,
it works. But somewhere along the 150 minute freight train of a
picture, we may have picked up a few splinters.
Samuel Osborn
Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ****
Going into APOCALYPTO, a very violent movie set a half a millennium ago and
told in Maya with English subtitles, I must admit I had at best modest
expectations. Directed by Mel Gibson (THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST), the film
turned out to be one of biggest surprises in years for me. As I gripped the
edge of my seat from start to finish, I was completely engrossed in a tale
that transports one back to a pre-civilized time, when humans attempted to
deal with the horrors of nature's plagues by offering sacrifices to the
gods. The movie isn't merely fascinating, it is nothing less than one of
the very best movies of the year, and it contains some of the best foot
chases in cinematic history.
The film starts off disarmingly with a long comedic sequence. Hunters from
one Mayan tribe have killed a wild boar and are busy dividing up its body
parts. It seems that one of them has been having problems procreating,
causing him, as we find out later, to have to endure endless grief from his
obnoxious mother-in-law. His friends have just the solution for him. All
he needs to do is eat raw boar balls. After he does this and pukes, his
friends start rolling in laughter. They never believed in the remedy. The
whole thing was one wild practical joke. Later we see this peaceful tribe
doing more practical jokes so that their relative harmlessness is driven
home to us.
The tranquility of the setting is interrupted as another tribe brings a
tribute and asks for passage through the forest. Looking like downtrodden
refuges from a concentration camp, they slowly stream through. With death
on their faces, they explain that their tribe has been "ravaged" by another
tribe.
Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood in an Oscar worthy performance), the story's
very compelling central character, is warned by his father that fear is a
contagious disease, so they will not speak again of the mysterious tribe who
passed through their forest. Once back to camp, we are surrounded by the
primal beauty of the lush and thick green forest. The sharp-as-a-tack
cinematography is absolutely breath-taking. It's so gorgeous, as are the
amazing costumes, body paint and jewelry, that the visuals alone are more
than worth the price of admission.
After a night of frivolity, Jaguar Paw's tribe is awakened by savage
killers. A sadistic tribe has come to gather slaves and candidates for
human sacrifices to the gods for the plague and pestilence that has struck
the people and the crops. Not content to kidnap the healthy adults, the
evil tribe captures half of the adults and brutally beats to death the other
half. The kids are left behind to fend for themselves and are likely to die
without adults to hunt and take care of them. Some of the women are raped.
Ever resourceful, as well as a great fighter, Jaguar Paw lowers his pregnant
wife and his young son into a deep hole in order to protect them, which it
does but also ends up trapping them there, too.
The slaves are tied to long poles and treated like wild animals. The bad
tribe has some great villains in it. Strong and handsome, they are quite
scary, and, even if Jaguar Paw and his friends are quite brave, they have
little ability to maneuver or struggle once firmly tied to the poles and
forced to go on a death march.
After a long and arduous journey through the dense jungle, Jaguar Paw and
his fellow captives arrive at a very surreal temple. Looking like MAD MAX
mixed with a Jim Jones cult, people jump up and down with wild abandon, as
one person after another has his heart dug out and his head chopped off as a
way to appease the angry gods.
The long and last part of the this thrilling tale concerns Jaguar Paw's
attempt to return to free his trapped family before the torrential rains
flood the hole and drown them.
APOCALYPTO is like nothing I have ever seen before. It moves at such an
accelerated and mesmerizing pace that I was shocked when I checked my watch
after what I thought was the first half hour only to find that three times
that amount of time had elapsed. It's easy to forget that humans are
animals too and that the world has not always been civilized. APOCALYPTO
transports us to the deep, dark roots of human nature at its rawest, but it
is, thankfully, a redeeming and redemptive tale of survival. It also has
some great twists along the way, none better than its ending, which could
become a real classic of a conclusion.
APOCALYPTO runs 2:15 but feels much shorter. The film is in Maya with
English subtitles. It is rated R for "sequences of graphic violence and
disturbing images" and would be acceptable for older teenagers. Given the
graphic nature of the movie, especially the scene of a man's face being
chewed away by a jaguar, it should more certainly be NC-17, but the MPAA
blew it again, rating it R since there isn't much nudity, which is what
really upsets the censors.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, December 8, 2006.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
***********************************************************************
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?
Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.