Apocalypto: Movie & DVD Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" isn't so much here to entertain as it is to endure.

In large part, the film, which Gibson co-wrote with Farhad Safinia, is violent to the point of distraction--often, you find yourself pushing to get through it, happy for those moments when a head isn't being severed, a throat isn't being slit, a field isn't found littered with corpses, testicles aren't being consumed raw, or a tapir isn't getting gored and then gutted onscreen for its meat.

Tucked within the bloodletting is a story that doesn't have much patience for historical accuracy, though since this essentially is a chase movie, the film isn't lacking in energy, with Dean Semler's beautiful cinematography and James Horner's thrumming score going a long way in enhancing the action. As such, sometimes "Apocalypto" is engrossing to watch, other times it's just an overbearing gross-out--and there's the crux of the movie. The results are mixed.

Told in Maya with English subtitles, the film features an unknown cast of actors who hold the screen with hypnotic eas--they're the best part of the show. Set in the 16th century, the movie stars Rudy Youngblood as Jaguar Paw, whose tight, peaceful tribe comes under attack early in the movie by a savage group of Mayans determined to offer many of them up to the gods in an effort to quell dwindling crops and a spreading plague.

Those who are spared the grueling journey to the Mayan temples don't get off easy--they're savagely murdered, with Gibson's sadistic streak fully revealing itself in these uneasy scenes of brutality, which include rape and one man twirling a shrieking newborn child around by its leg.

The two who do escape the Mayans--Jaguar Pa's pregnant wife, Seven (Dalia Hernandez), and their son, Turtle Run (Carlos Emilio Baez)--find themselves trapped in a well. Since it's Paw's intention to free them before the rains come and drown them, the film's drive is derived from how (not whether) he will escape the Mayans and get to his family before it's too late.

Getting in the way of the film's success isn't just the violence, which is fetishized, but the odd, one-dimensional depiction of the Mayan people, who are viewed only as beasts, not as thinking people who formed an influential culture. Meanwhile, other scenes connect with panache, such as Paw's final forest flight, which is a cunning ballet of one-upmanship, or his decision to leap from a towering waterfall, which is harrowing in spite of its familiarity.

In the end, though, much like Gibson himself, "Apocalypto" is so far on the fringe, there's the temptation to overanalyze it. The trouble is, the more you do so, the less you seem to care. By eschewing subtlety and nuance in favor of shock, Gibson does disturb his audience as he intended, but by stripping away any sense of mystery from his movie, he also does it a disservice. He kneecaps it.

Grade: C