Review of Apocalypto (2006) by Neal F — 07 Oct 2013

Apocalypto is a beautiful and at times bloody film about survival on several levels... A tribes fight for survival in the jungle, a societies fight to survive in an ever changing world, a man's fight to save his family, a woman's fight to keep her children safe, and so on. The film was so perfectly shot that one feels as though they are standing in the Yucatan Jungle 500 years ago with soft soil under one's feet and a canopy of green blocking out the sun. And while it is clear that great pains were made to be as close to what "reality" may have been like in the ancient Mayan jungles and culture, the film also contains slices of metaphysical or mythical elements that for some may be distracting or disappointing, but to others may be refreshing. For me it was the later.

I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys historical fiction films. And while I strongly feel that the "violence" and "bloodiness" of this film has been highly over-rated by the critics, pre-programming viewers to be ultra-sensitive to each and every drop of blood, this film does use violence and gore to both shock and repulse the viewer at times while reinforcing the realism of primitive life, thus I would suggest those particularly sensitive to blood and gore avoid this film. But if you can sit through even half of one of our modern day horror films, you will be fine. Sadly it seems we are so used to blood and gore being used as pointless entertainment in our daily lives (in horror films from Hostile to Saw to Final Destination or unrealistic action films that glorify violence such as in Kill Bill, Sin City, and countless other popular mainstream films) that we are bothered by it when the blood and violence is actually used to make us uncomfortable. Yes, this film uses violence to make us uncomfortable. And we should be. Just as we should be uncomfortable when soldiers get their arms or legs blown off in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Flags of Our Fathers" or any number of Vietnam films.

Sadly, it is very clear that this film suffers more from politics than it does anything the actual movie has to offer, for if Apocalypto had had another name next to the title, such as Stone, Scorsese, Spielberg or Eastwood, the film would be lauded for its serious take on violence, its meticulous attempts to correctly portray an ancient culture, and its strong overtones of environmentalism, anti-war, anti-corruption, anti-classism, and separation of "church" and "state" that one would clearly expect to see it get its share of Golden Globe, Director's Guild and Oscar nods.

Summary: Beautifully filmed. Wonderfully acted. Expertly directed. Well scripted. A thrilling film that aspires to be more than just a sword and sandals film. For some, those aspirations may be lacking but for others they are met, perhaps with spades. But no one can honestly contest that this is clearly a top-notch film, and for some, perhaps much, much more.