WHEN THE END COMES, NOT EVERYONE IS READY TO GO.
2006 was not an easy time for Mel Gibson. In July that year he was arrested for driving under the influence, but that was nothing compared to the anti-Semitic remarks that he made to the arresting officer. It was a scandal that would send Gibson into rehab as well as meetings with Jewish leaders to make amends. It has taken over two years before reports began to emerge about Gibson mounting a possible comeback. But it’s an undeniable fact that his last film, Apocalypto, turned out to be his finest since Braveheart (1995), a powerful look at a civilization about to go under.
An Indian tribe in 16th-century Mesoamerica
The film begins with a famous Will Durant quote and the story follows it closely: “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” We’re transferred to 16th-century Mesoamerica where we’re introduced to an Indian tribe, particularly young Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and his father, Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead). One morning, Jaguar Paw wakes up to see a foreign tribe attack his village; they set fire to the huts and start either killing or capturing everybody. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his pregnant wife Seven (Dalia Hernandez) and their son in a small cave. He is subsequently captured and forced to witness Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo), the leader of the other tribe, slit Flint Sky’s throat.
A journey begins to the Maya city, the bustling center of this culture. Jaguar Paw doesn’t know that the intention is to sacrifice him and the other men of the tribe to the gods, but he does know that he intends to do everything he can to get back to his family.
Results are quite overwhelming
In interviews, Gibson said that his purpose was to create an action movie in a very different setting. His ambition here is admirable; along with co-writer Farhad Safinia, he enlisted the help of historians to get the depiction of the Maya culture as close to reality as possible. As expected other researchers found faults, but the director and his co-writer needed to make their own interpretations and decide what works best for the film – and this is a case where the results are quite overwhelming.
Shot in the jungles of Mexico, the film takes us to a place and time that feels genuine.
Gibson selected actors not widely known who all had roots either in the U.S. Native American cultures or the actual Maya culture; in the film they all speak a Mayan language. The Maya city has been convincingly recreated, with the predator tribe in colorful paint, reflecting the fashion of the day. Shot in the jungles of Mexico, the film takes us to a place and time that feels genuine and it cleverly arouses our empathy for Jaguar Paw, his tribe and the quest to save his family. We in the audience are made to feel so much like a part of this world that in the final sequence we’re almost as shocked as the Indians to see what they see – the frightening arrival of the future. The first half of the film is a gruesome portrayal of what Jaguar Paw and his tribe are subjected to, but the second half is when the action movie kicks off, a fierce, wild escape.
Echoing a film like The Most Dangerous Game (1932), portraying man as the hunted game – it’s a concept imaginatively shot by Gibson and his cinematographer, Dean Semler. James Horner delivers a discreet horror score that fits this very bloody movie well.
When Gibson announced his plans to make this film, few thought he would succeed. Once again he has proven that he is a filmmaker with bold ideas and a knack for bombastic, visual storytelling. As long as he can keep his inner demons to himself, and people are willing to work with him (two big ifs), he could very well deliver something substantial once again.
Apocalypto 2006-U.S. 140 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Mel Gibson. Screenplay: Mel Gibson, Farhad Safinia. Cinematography: Dean Semler. Music: James Horner. Cast: Rudy Youngblood (Jaguar Paw), Dalia Hernandez (Seven), Raoul Trujillo (Zero Wolf), Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead, Carlos Emilio Baez.
Trivia: Co-produced by Gibson.
Last word: “They kept bringing in guys to play [the Mayan king] for five weeks, and I’d look at them and say, ‘Where did you get that guy?’ And they’d say, ‘We found him in the gym’. And I’d say, ‘He looks like a guy from the gym’. I said this character doesn’t say anything, and we have to know when we look at him that he’s the king, and why he’s the king. You have to look at him one time and get an unsavory feeling, like he probably murdered his brother, stole his wife, murdered all his nephews. He’s very manipulative and shrewd. So we found this guy, Rafael Velez, working on the docks in Vera Cruz — he was a foreman of these guys who were loading ships and containers. He was a very nice man, but he had this look of cold command. It was just perfect. As soon as I saw him, I knew it.” (Gibson, MTV)
