Review of Apocalypto (2006) by J Brigham H — 21 Jul 2012

APOCALYPTO is an exciting adventure set in the woefully underused setting of pre-European America. Since there is such minimal reliable record of the time and place, accuracy of events was never much of a possibility, but there has been debate about misrepresentation of cultures. As a film, though, the tone is perfect. There is a haunting mysteriousness to ancient America due to our relatively minor knowledge of it, and Gibson nails that aspect. Despite his reputation, he also does surprisingly well at creating well-rounded human characters, at least as far as the sympathetic tribal people of the main story goes, though maybe the Mayans don't come out quite so well. At first I felt that the pranks on the infertile couple in the tribe were mean-spirited, but I soon realized what an effective move it is in making them relatable and human to use one of the most universal types of humor, vulgarity.

The violence is infamously graphic and definitely more explicit than even Gibson's PASSION OF THE CHRIST, but even as the film bathes itself in blood, it is used effectively to present a raw and dangerous world of a civilization on the brink.