Apocalypto is the latest effort from Mel Gibson, someone who’s had, er, a difficult time of late. It’s set in ancient Maya and the film is made in the local dialogue.
We meet a group of villagers who seem to live a fairly idyllic life on the edge of a forest capturing wild boar and coming to grips with infertility issues. In particular we meet Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and some his mates. But Jaguar’s uneasy; the previous day a dispossessed people have passed through their forest seeking a “new beginning” having been forced to leave their lands. Early one morning, the village is brutally attacked with women and children amongst those who are murdered by a seemingly powerful rival tribe. Jaguar manages to hide his pregnant wife and young son in a pit but he’s caught along with many of his fellow villagers and his wife is left trapped.
And so we embark on a tale of slavery, and a Mayan civilisation that seems to be crumbling with failing crops and disease ravaging the people. They’re building large cities, and through the eyes of Jaguar and his friends, we look in awe and wonder on a society that I can’t remember ever being properly depicted on film before.
The film is pretty well constructed and solidly made. It’s certainly brutal, and it has a feel of authenticity about everything. Overall, it’s an adventure film, and the latter quarter of it is an out and out chase film. It’s a well made chase film, but nonetheless, that’s what it is. My only real problem with that is that a few movie clichés find their way into the film. A drop of blood gives away a hiding place; a long jungle chase inevitably ends at a river – you just know exactly when some of these things are coming.
But the biggest cliché must surely be the use of a solar eclipse of the sun to get out a particularly tricky spot. It’s amazing how often these come just at the point of a human sacrifice (and how quickly they last – in this instance a matter of seconds). Oh, and I guessed the ending in advance too despite having next to no knowledge of Mayan history.
I’m being unfair to just dwell on these points, as I think overall it’s an entertaining action adventure film that just happens not to feature a pair of white Americans running through the jungle from, say, drug smugglers. Worth seeing.