Brutally Honest: Apocalypto by Mel Gibson, Reaction Paper Example

Review of Apocalypto

Apocalypto is a great movie by Mel Gibson. The cinematography, sets, make-up, and costumes are greatly portrayed, which is vividly recalling the halcyon days of the Mayans. The religious fascination of Gibson with seeing men, who are almost naked, tortured persists with Apocalypto. But whereas the Gibson’s Passion of The Christ and Braveheart had the advantage of an attractive story to go in conjunction with bloodshed, Apocalypto emerges to be all about presenting violence for the sake of violence. In the movie there is nothing secret that the Empire of Mayan was in total decay at the arrival time of Spaniards on the Atlantic Ocean shore. Their disrespect of the people and villagers and religious fanaticism in the lower level people hierarchies whom they not required as important for their sacrifices idiotic nature made them become the focal point of the hatred of the adjacent villages and towns, generally living in the center of forests.

Apocalypto movie is a meditation and a thought on fear. The father of Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) always teach him not feel fear because the fear leads to death. It takes us with the harsh reality of having to discuss our potential destruction or continued presence in such world where the most monstrous cruelty will appear not mainly from the wild beasts’ world, but from the common hands of other human being, even those people have common culture and language. In most movies that are of action type we experience aimlessly tense that no injury must come to someone who is pursued (we must even now have prey hearts to be identified easily with the chased person and not the chaser). In Apocalypto, the central character is teaching the audiences how to negotiate and discuss fear so that if the death were to come it is accepted as well as living. And finally that running away and running toward may look alike, but are not.

Apparently Gibson and his team performed their work and represent most accounts about historical traditions and of the Mayans. It doesn’t matter that whether Apocalypto is a fair representation of the religious beliefs and culture the least if the single fact achieved by the movie is presenting as many approaches as possible to kill and mutilate. Apocalypto is an over-the-top, exploitative, and horribly pointless presentation of bloodshed lacking of any genuine story. One can ignore the cultural richness; Gibson merely intends to present the cruelty imposed on the innocent by those appeared to be more powerful. And finally, Gibson remains successful in presenting that, but remains fail some people say in most other respects.

References

Johnson, Reed. “Mel Gibson’s latest passion: Maya culture” (New York: Los Angeles Times, 2005).