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ApocalyptoClaudia PuigApocalypto is undoubtedly the most grisly movie ever released by any arm of the Walt Disney Company. Co-produced by the company's Touchstone label, it is an action epic co-written and directed by Mel Gibson, whose directorial career has evolved into an essay in blood lust and gratuitous violence. Gibson's Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ seemed to revel in explicit brutality. And with his latest film, which superficially chronicles the decline of the Mayan civilization, he has plunged into new realms of savagery. The story begins in the 16th century on what is meant to be a light note. A group of men hunt and kill a tapir. This being a Gibson movie, the animal is impaled brutally, not just speared. There's a bit of comic relief, more clownish than funny, involving an infertile man persuaded by his fellow tribesmen to eat the tapir's testicles. Shortly thereafter, these peaceful forest-dwellers are attacked by marauding Mayans. Most of the community is viciously attacked, men and children are slain, and women are raped. Several men are taken prisoner to be offered up to the gods. Among them is the film's protagonist, Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), who escapes and undertakes a perilous journey to be reunited with his family. Along the way, there's a litany of barbaric acts, filmed to their fullest shock potential. How can Gibson disgust us? Let us count the ways: There's a face chewed off by a panther, a spear impaling a man's skull, a chest ripped open by a blunt arrowhead and a head spurting blood as if a spigot has been turned on. Then there are the hundreds of rotting corpses that fill the screen for a few harrowing minutes. You cannot deny that Gibson is inventive in depicting torture. But watching it is excruciating, despite some striking cinematography and Youngblood's expressive performance. The blood and guts obscure whatever power the story could have had. Certainly the Mayan civilization was not without violence. But the film doesn't even touch on significant Mayan contributions. Advances in mathematics, astronomy, science and writing are ignored in favor of a focus on the Mayans' decadence and barbarism. For Gibson, the Mayans seemed to have been all about decapitated heads and extracted still-beating hearts. The impressive temples they built appear to be of little consequence. Though the dialogue, in the native language spoken by Mayan descendants in Central America, does create a sense of authenticity, the story itself seems like anthropology lite. We get just a glimpse of tribal customs as the movie devolves into a conventional chase film. What is missing is context. Why does everyone speak the same language if they had not had any prior contact? Or had they had contact but escaped somehow unscathed? We have no idea how long the forest-dwelling tribe has been living peacefully before they are attacked. The movie is so impressionistic, it obfuscates any sense of history. We expect at least a hint at the causes of the Mayan Empire's demise, but instead we get Mesoamerican Rambo. Perhaps Gibson is trying to shock us into absorbing the torment and severity of man's inhumanity to man. The tragedy is that the film has the opposite effect: As we are bombarded by savagery, we become inured to it. |
