So I watched Apocolypto last night

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Gibson knows how to get your blood pumping with the action sequences but he seems to like making clear distinctions as far as who's the villian and who's the hero. The bad guys 'look' bad or evil. Also, he protrayed the Spaniards as saviors to the senseless savagery.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Gibson knows how to get your blood pumping with the action sequences but he seems to like making clear distinctions as far as who's the villian and who's the hero. The bad guys 'look' bad or evil. Also, he protrayed the Spaniards as saviors to the senseless savagery.

You don't really learn anything about the Mayans that you didn't know before. And yes - I noticed that connection with the arrival of the Christians. It was well-made apart from that - but I agree, somewhat simplistic.

Gibson is a bit of sadist IMO - all of the films he has directed thus far include scenes of gratuitous torture.

[Hornet 2]

I saw it Saturday night. I thought it was great.

Of course the bad guys can't look all sweet lol I was reading an interview with Mel also. I agree with him, I didn't think it was as violent as BraveHeart. It's just the scenes of human sacrifice are more shocking to watch. The truth needs to shock though, for people to learn.

I didn't see the Spanish as saviors. I saw it more as the end of one atrocity and the beginning of the next for the native Mayans. For all Native Americans it was the beginning of a 400 year genocide.

Good Job Mel

ps: Do you think any Oscar nominations are headed his way?? lol

Not from Jewish Hollywood I bet lol.

[mrc 0]

Maybe I'll go see it this weekend. I haven't read any reviews on it yet.

I'm sure this movie is doing well in the Jewish communities.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I saw it a few weeks ago. I loved it. And I don't agree with your characterization of how he portrayed the Spaniards. In the beginning of the movie, he started with a quote (I don't recall the exact words) to the effect of how a civilization can not be conquered from without until it is divided from within. I saw the last scene of the white folk showing up as tying into that. I think he was saying the Spaniards would have failed if the Mayan civilization wasn't so divided.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I was a little disappointed that they resorted to Cliche with that solar eclipse. I was reading that the Maya had a fairly advanced understanding of astronomy - easily on a par with the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians. So showing them in awe of an event like an eclipse is somewhat questionable.

[Mags 112]

Gibson is a bit of sadist IMO - all of the films he has directed thus far include scenes of gratuitous torture.

Agreed. Braveheart made me feel ill. I've no urge to see any more of his films as I have heard they are just as bad.

The man has a problem if you ask me.

[kitkat1 5]

I have zero interest in seeing this movie - partly because I can't tolerate that kind of violence in a movie, and partly because I can't tolerate Mel Gibson.

[Scott & Lai 12]

I was a little disappointed that they resorted to Cliche with that solar eclipse. I was reading that the Maya had a fairly advanced understanding of astronomy - easily on a par with the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians. So showing them in awe of an event like an eclipse is somewhat questionable.

I haven't seen it yet, but yeah, that's disappointing and questionable.

[Laveau 67]

I saw Apocolypto and liked it a lot. I didn't see the Spaniards as saviors in any sense. It wasn't as good as Braveheart.

Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time!

[Mags 112]

Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time!

Really? I found it disturbing. But we're all different, I guess.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I was a little disappointed that they resorted to Cliche with that solar eclipse. I was reading that the Maya had a fairly advanced understanding of astronomy - easily on a par with the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians. So showing them in awe of an event like an eclipse is somewhat questionable.

I haven't seen it yet, but yeah, that's disappointing and questionable.

Well...

you can see the screenwriter (which Mel Gibson also had a hand in I believe) struggling with how to get his characters out the situation, becoming human sacrifices. Having built the "City Maya" up to be totally and inhumanely amoral, his only escape route is through a rare and implausible astronomical event - which then becomes the starting point for a subtext of supernatural symbolism.

.

I just discovered we have Spoiler tags. Suggest we make use of them when discussing specific aspects of the movie for the benefit of those who have not yet seen it. Highlight the above text to read it.

Edited December 20, 2006 by erekose

[Laveau 67]

Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time!

Really? I found it disturbing. But we're all different, I guess.

For sure. I just love that movie.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time!

Really? I found it disturbing. But we're all different, I guess.

For sure. I just love that movie.

The main thing that irritates me about Braveheart is how completely historically inaccurate it is. Right down to the costumes, the woad painted faces, the "Hobbit Holes" etc - none of it is at all accurate.

Even worse, the Battle of Stirling is taken completely out of any context. It did not take place on a plain, the way the film depicts it - but on a bridge. The Highlanders ambushed the army as it was crossing the bridge - they would never have defeated the army on open ground the way it is portrayed.

Apart from that - I thought that the storytelling was pretty good (which is really the main reason you go to the cinema) so I didn't mind Braveheart so much as I did The Patriot. He only starred in that one - but the movie tanked in Britain because it showed the British conducting atrocities that were taken directly from accounts of Nazi atrocities in WW2. After Braveheart a lot of us wonder what Mel Gibson has against the British...

[GaryC 7]

Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time!

Really? I found it disturbing. But we're all different, I guess.

For sure. I just love that movie.

The main thing that irritates me about Braveheart is how completely historically inaccurate it is. Right down to the costumes, the woad painted faces, the "Hobbit Holes" etc - none of it is at all accurate.

Even worse, the Battle of Stirling is taken completely out of any context. It did not take place on a plain, the way the film depicts it - but on a bridge. The Highlanders ambushed the army as it was crossing the bridge - they would never have defeated the army on open ground the way it is portrayed.

Apart from that - I thought that the storytelling was pretty good (which is really the main reason you go to the cinema) so I didn't mind Braveheart so much as I did The Patriot. He only starred in that one - but the movie tanked in Britain because it showed the British conducting atrocities that were taken directly from accounts of Nazi atrocities in WW2. After Braveheart a lot of us wonder what Mel Gibson has against the British...

I guess it all comes down to your perspective. I loved The Patriot. I really don't know about the specific atrocities shown there but we are taught that things like that did happen. But as far as an action/war movie goes it was very good.