Apocalypto review

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Apocalypto review

"Apocalypto" focuses on gore, ignores fascinating culture (REVIEW)
By Sevanand Gaddala, Indo-Asian News Service

Film: "Apocalypto"; Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Isabel Diaz, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Bird; Director: Mel Gibson; Ratings: **

Just as in many other Mel Gibson directed movies, "Apocalypto" is splattered with lots of violence, well-paced action and a dab of intent on trying to say something serious and important.

Watching "Apocalypto", one cannot help but be a little disturbed with Gibson's obsession, fascination, and maybe his underlying internal struggle with violence.

After having watched some of the protagonists of Gibson's other movies get impaled, flogged, crucified and organs ripped out, it is too much to hope for "Apocalypto" to be any different.

There is no doubt that the movie is well crafted and well paced. The action sequences are exhilarating and the attention to detail and authenticity of the people and era is commendable.

Those hoping to get some kind of a history lesson on "the decline on Mayan civilisation" are going to be solely disappointed. But those looking for gory action are going to be more than satisfied.

Though it is set in an ancient era of civilisation, the plot is pretty specific and revolves around one character. The central character is a young Mayan named Jaguar Paw whose village is raided. He is forced to abandon his young son and pregnant wife.

He and his companions are taken to the nearby city to either be slaves or offered as sacrifices. But in a twist of fate he escapes being sacrificed only to be pursued trough the forest as he tries to get back to his family in time to save them.

In just the pursuit through the forest, which makes up for the second half of the movie, we are shown men bitten by snakes, a jaguar eating into a man's face, pursuers killed with darts tipped with frog poison, heads smashed against rocks below a waterfall and much more.

What is truly tragic about the movie is that Gibson has chosen a fascinating time period and place to set his movie in. But he sacrifices all that to focus on the gore.

It is true that there was an obsession with death through sacrifices and that life in general was pretty savage in ancient civilisations. But what cannot be ignored is that the Mayans -- the people depicted in the movie -- in particular were knowledgeable in maths, astronomy and other sciences. The culture was advanced enough to have a written language and they left behind extensive material of knowledge.

It is true that all artistes, especially filmmakers, have the right to take artistic licence. And in some regards the violence can be termed realistic. But sitting through the movie, one is left with nothing but the horrors of the violence depicted. Most of the creativity in the movie is poured into finding out ways to have people to be killed or suffer.

Hopefully, people will watch the movie as an attempt to learn something about a fascinating culture, ignore the gory violence and eke some kind of an understanding of the complexity of people, culture and civilisation. All this has to be done in spite of Gibson and his movie, not because of it.