Apocalypto

On monday night, a friend of mine and I went to see Mel Gibson’s latest movie, as a director/producer, Apocalypto.

The story is set in the Mayan era; A small village in the jungle is attacked and brutally overrun, its residents slaughtered and abducted by a ruling tribe that needs a bunch of slaves and human sacrifices. We follow the steps of the warrior Jaguar Paw as he tries to get away to go back and save his pregnant wife and son.

Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, with the middle of the movie being in a grand Mayan city. The dialogue is in a Mayan dialect, with subtitles of course.

The movie is very well made and feels like it captured the era it’s set in perfectly; the design of the sets and costumes is dazzling, the acting is great, the character development very successful, the action really good; in short, this is one great movie overall.

Still this movie might not be for the faint of heart, it’s quite violent, there’s a lot of blood involved, a lot of dead bodies lying around, along with decapitation, impalement, disembowelment, snakebite, and what not. Personally, I thought it all played well into the story, and didn’t find anything to be just violence for the sake of violence.

Anyway, I truly recommend seeing this movie to everyone, even the faint of heart (just take a barf bag with you), it’s really worth every second of the 139 minutes. I applaud Mel Gibson for what is one of the best movies of the year.

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Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

10 thoughts on “Apocalypto”

  2. My response–in English–follows below. 🙂

    I, too, thought it excellent. Many didn’t like it, not because of its graphic violence, but because it depicted the ongoing destruction of Mayan civilization. Contemptible though the conquistadors were, cultures having human sacrifice at their heart, no matter how enviable many of their attainments, are morally repugnant– abominable relics of humanity’s bestial origins. That the Spanish wiped out the entire Mayan civilization was brutal and unnecessary and all too typical. But I doubt even the English, who get much higher marks in their colonization of the Americas, would’ve done any differently.

    So, MMM, sounds like you’re able to get out and about in Paris, despite your workload.

    Glad you’re having a good time. (Could you bottle some of that and mail it here? No? Ah well. 🙂 )

    Cheers

  3. I think Apocalypto will not enter in the league of good movies. Just another american receipt without too beeing too deep. When I look back at the Passion of Christ I realized that the Bible was a way better script compared with this one. Really different results.

  10. Gibson signed his quasi death act with his attitude in the last years. The Passion of Christ is one of the worst I have ever seen! Can you imagine: a movie about Christ forbidden fro under 18th?

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