Movie Review: Apocalypto
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this relentlessly brutal,
subtitled action film isn't for kids. It features extreme and
repetitive violence, including suggestions of rape (screaming
women who are dragged off screen). But the greatest viciousness
is directed against male bodies: Men are tortured, beaten, cut,
kicked, thrown to the ground, speared, shot with arrows,
beheaded, and cut open while they're still alive (their cut-out
hearts appear in close-up). A man's throat is cut in front of
his son, heads are set on sticks as totems, and a jaguar
attacks a man and rips him to pieces on screen. A pregnant
woman and her young child are left stranded in a dangerous
situation, leading to some very tense moments; other children
are left to fend for themselves when their parents are taken
captive, and a young girl with smallpox (her face marked with
open sores) is shown crying next to her mother's corpse. A
man's alleged impotence is the source of some humor. One
subtitled use of "f--k."
Families can discuss the role of violence in the movie. Is it appropriate for the story that's being told? Which parts, if any, are gratuitous? How accurate do you think it is? Director Mel Gibson has become known for making very violent movies -- why do you think a filmmaker might be drawn to that kind of material? How about the subtitles? Why do you think Gibson chose to film the movie in Yucatec? Families can also talk about the relationships between the different groups of Mayans in the movie. Why does one group think the other is suitable for labor and sacrifice? How does the film represent Mayan religious rituals? How does Jaguar Paw's devotion to his family make him a familiar and also mythic hero?
Common Sense Media Review
Another adventure in spectacular physical abuse directed by
Mel
Gibson, APOCALYPTO combines gorgeous imagery and stunning
brutality. Even as bodies are falling and crashing, bleeding
and drowning, Dean Semler's cinematography is breathtaking and
the compositions ravishing, whether they're lush forest
backgrounds or fascinating faces in close-up.
The story itself seems simple. Young, optimistic 15th-century Mayan tribesman Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) confronts real fear for the first time after he and his hunting party come across a band of terrified, homeless villagers who stumble through Jaguar Paw's territory by accident, seeking "a new beginning." Though his noble father Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead) instructs Jaguar Paw to "strike" this fear from his heart, the son is haunted by one traveler's face, a seeming mirror of his own.
Jaguar Paw soon has his own reason to be afraid, when a band of fierce Holcane warriors attack his village: They pillage, burn, rape, and murder, taking the able-bodied young adults away to their festering city, where they sell the women as servants and plan to sacrifice the men atop a pyramid overlooking the town square. As citizens hoot and cheer below, the priests cut the young men open, holding their hearts up to the gods and sending their bloody heads plunk-plunk-plunking down the steps into the crowd below.
