Apocalypto

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Apocalypto

Apocalypto promotional poster
Directed by Mel Gibson
Produced by Mel Gibson
Farhad Safinia
Bruce Davey
Written by Mel Gibson
Farhad Safinia
Starring Rudy Youngblood
Raoul Trujillo
Mayra Sérbulo
Dalia Hernández
Gerardo Taracena
Rodolfo Palacios
Bernardo Ruiz Juarez
Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza
Ricardo Diaz Mendoza
Israel Contreras
Music by James Horner
Cinematography Dean Semler
Editing by John Wright
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures (USA)
Icon Entertainment (International)
20th Century Fox (Argentina)
Release date(s) December 8, 2006 (theater)
May 22, 2007 (DVD and Blu-ray)
Running time 139 minutes
Language Yucatec Maya
Budget $40,000,000
Gross revenue $120,175,290 (worldwide)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
Ratings
Australia:  MA 15+
Canada (BC/SK):  18A
Canada (Ontario):  14A
India:  U/A
Ireland:  15
Malaysia:  U
Singapore:  NC-16
United Kingdom:  18
United States:  R

Apocalypto is a 2006 epic film directed by Mel Gibson, starring Rudy Youngblood. Set in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, it depicts a Mesoamerican tribesman's experience of an armed invasion and destruction of his tribe, and subsequent manhunt for him during the declining period of the ancient Maya civilization.

To create verisimilitude to the Ancient settings, most of the cast members are of Native American descent, and speak Yucatec Maya language in the film, with English subtitles.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film begins with an onscreen quote from Will Durant: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

While hunting tapir in the Mesoamerican jungle, Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), his father Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead), and their fellow tribesmen encounter a procession of traumatized and fearful refugees. The procession's leader explains that their lands have been ravaged, and asks for Flint Sky's permission to pass through the jungle. When Jaguar Paw and his tribesmen return to their village, Flint Sky tells his son not to let the procession's state of fear seep into him. At night, the tribe's elder tells the village a fable of man forever unable to fill his want, despite having been given the capabilities of all of the animals. The villagers follow the story with music and dance, leaving Jaguar Paw to ponder.

The next morning, Jaguar Paw wakes from a nightmare to see strangers enter the village and set the huts ablaze. The raiders, led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo), attack and subdue the villagers. Jaguar Paw slips out with his pregnant wife Seven (Dalia Hernández) and his little son Turtles Run, lowering them on a vine into a small cave (a chultun, shaped something like a well)[1] to hide them. Jaguar Paw returns to the village to fight the raiders but is subdued with the rest of the tribe. A raider whom Jaguar Paw attacked and almost killed, the vicious Middle Eye (Gerardo Taracena), slits Flint Sky's throat while Jaguar Paw helplessly watches. Before the raiders leave the village with their prisoners, one suspicious raider severs the vine leading into the ground cave, trapping Jaguar Paw's wife and son within. The raiders and their captives trek toward the Maya city, encountering failed maize crops and slaves producing plaster. They also pass a small girl with smallpox who, after entering a trance-like state, prophesies to the raiders that their end is near, including details of darkness in the middle of the day and a man bringing a jaguar. In the city's outskirts, the female captives are sold as slaves and the males are escorted to the top of a step pyramid. The high priest sacrifices several captives by decapitating them after pulling out their beating hearts. When Jaguar Paw is about to be sacrificed, a solar eclipse stays the priest's hand. The priest declares the sun god Kukulkan is satisfied with the sacrifices. The eclipse passes, and light returns to the world.

Zero Wolf, told by the priest to "dispose" of the remaining captives, takes them to a ball field. The captives are released in pairs and forced to run the length of the field to win their freedom. The raiders target them with javelins, arrows, and slingstones as they run. Jaguar Paw is struck by an arrow through the abdomen but reaches the end of the field and removes the arrow tip. Zero Wolf's son, Cut Rock, approaches to finish him off with an obsidian blade, but Jaguar Paw stabs him through the jaw with the arrow tip. As Cut Rock dies a painful death, Jaguar Paw escapes through a withered maize field and an open mass grave. The enraged Zero Wolf and his raiders pursue Jaguar Paw into the jungle and back toward Jaguar Paw's home. Along the way, one of the raiders is killed by a black jaguar that has been disturbed by Jaguar Paw. As he flees, Jaguar Paw jumps over a high waterfall and survives, declaring from the riverbank below that the raiders are now in his territory.

Zero Wolf's raiders fall to both the forest's elements and Jaguar Paw's traps. A heavy rain sets in, which begins to flood the ground cave in which Jaguar Paw's wife and son are still trapped. Jaguar Paw bludgeons Middle Eye in hand-to-hand combat and kills Zero Wolf by leading him into a trap meant for hunting tapir. He is chased by two remaining raiders out to a beach where they encounter Spanish conquistadores and missionaries making their way ashore in boats. The amazement of the raiders allows Jaguar Paw to flee. He returns into the forest to pull his wife and son out of the pit where they are hiding. He returns in time to save the family, and sees that his wife has given birth to a healthy second son. As the family walks near the coastline, Jaguar Paw's wife asks what the strange objects near the shore are. Jaguar Paw responds only that "they bring men". Jaguar Paw and his family go deeper into the forest, "to seek a new beginning", leaving the conquistadores who are anchored in ships off the beach.

[edit] Production

[edit] Screenplay

Screenwriter and producer Farhad Safinia first met director Mel Gibson while working as an assistant during the post-production of The Passion of the Christ. Eventually, Gibson and Safinia found time to discuss "their mutual love of movies and what excites them about moviemaking."[2] Safinia notes:

We started to talk about what films excite us and what he wanted to do next, and we specifically spent a lot of time on the action-chase genre of filmmaking. Those conversations essentially grew into the skeleton of ('Apocalypto'). We wanted to update the chase genre by, in fact, not updating it with technology or machinery but stripping it down to its most intense form, which is a man running for his life, and at the same time getting back to something that matters to him.[2]

Gibson and Safinia were also interested in portraying and exploring an ancient culture as it existed before the arrival of the Europeans. Considering both the Aztecs and the Maya, they eventually chose the latter for their high sophistication and their eventual decline. Safinia notes:

The Mayans were far more interesting to us. You can choose a civilization that is bloodthirsty, or you can show the Mayan civilization that was so sophisticated with an immense knowledge of medicine, science, archaeology and engineering ... but also be able to illuminate the brutal undercurrent and ritual savagery that they practiced. It was a far more interesting world to explore why and what happened to them.[2]

The two researched ancient Maya history, reading both creation and destruction myths, including sacred texts such as the Popul Vuh.[3] In addition, Safinia and Gibson personally traveled to the Yucatan to scout filming locations and visit Maya ruins to help write the script.

Striving for a degree of historical accuracy, the filmmakers employed a consultant, Richard D. Hansen, a specialist in the Maya, assistant professor of archaeology at Idaho State University, and director of the Mirador Basin Project in Guatemala (a forest reserve home to a number of Maya archaeological sites). Gibson has said of Hansen's involvement:

Richard’s enthusiasm for what he does is infectious. He was able to reassure us and make us feel secure that what we were writing had some authenticity as well as imagination.[3]

Gibson is interested in using unfamiliar languages on film, having already used Aramaic and Latin in his religious blockbuster The Passion of the Christ. In Apocalypto, the dialogue is entirely in the Yucatec Maya language.[4]. Gibson explains:

I think hearing a different language allows the audience to completely suspend their own reality and get drawn into the world of the film. And more importantly, this also puts the emphasis on the cinematic visuals, which are a kind of universal language of the heart.[3]

[edit] Filming

Apocalypto features a cast of unknown actors from Mexico City and the Yucatán. In addition, three cast members came from Canada, and two from the USA. There were at least 700 extras on set. Many of the younger actors from isolated communities had never set foot inside a hotel room prior to filming.[citation needed]

Gibson filmed Apocalypto mainly in Catemaco, San Andres Tuxtla, and Paso de Ovejas in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The waterfall scene was filmed on a real waterfall called Salto de Eyipantla, located in San Andrés Tuxtla. Other filming took place in El Petén, a department of Guatemala, where the mystical city of the movie is located (Tikal). The film was originally slated for an August 4, 2006, release, but Touchstone Pictures delayed the release date to December 8, 2006, due to heavy rains interfering with filming in Mexico.

Apocalypto was shot on high-definition digital video, using the Panavision Genesis camera.[3] During filming, Gibson and cinematographer Dean Semler employed the use of Spydercam[5], a suspended camera system allowing shooting from atop. This equipment was used in a scene in which the captive villagers are led through the river:

We had a Spydercam shot from the top of [the] 150-foot (46 m) waterfall, looking over an actor's shoulder and then plunging over the edge –- literally in the waterfall. I thought we’d be doing it on film, but we put the Genesis [camera] up there in a light-weight water housing. The temperatures were beyond 100 degrees at [the] top, and about 60 degrees at the bottom, with the water and the mist. We shot two fifty-minute tapes without any problems – though we [did get] water in there once and fogged up.[6]

Gibson had insisted on making the main sets based on actual buildings rather than relying on computer-generated images. Most of the step pyramids seen at the Maya city were models designed by Thomas E. Sanders, who had previously been nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for his work in Saving Private Ryan[4].

Simon Atherton, an English armorer and weapon-maker who worked with Gibson on Braveheart, was hired this time to research and provide the Maya weapons. Gibson let Atherton play the cross-bearing Spanish priest who appears on a boat at the end of the film. In addition, the production team consisted of a large group of make-up artists and costume designers who worked to recreate an authentic Maya look for the large cast.

[edit] Distribution

While Gibson financed the film himself, Disney signed on to distribute Apocalypto for a fee in certain markets. On September 23, 2006, Gibson pre-screened Apocalypto to two predominantly Native American audiences in the US state of Oklahoma, at the Riverwind Casino in Goldsby, owned by the Chickasaw Nation, and at Cameron University in Lawton.[7] He also did a pre-screening in Austin, Texas, on September 24 in conjunction with one of the movie's stars, Rudy Youngblood.[8]

[edit] Themes

See also: Classic Maya collapse

Although it is not directly expressed in the film, the background to the events depicted is the collapse of the Maya civilization, which the filmmakers researched before writing.

The Australian version of the Apocalypto film poster. The original theatrical poster acquired a nomination in the 36th annual Key Art Awards for the best Action Adventure poster.
The Australian version of the Apocalypto film poster.[9] The original theatrical poster acquired a nomination in the 36th annual Key Art Awards for the best Action Adventure poster. [10] [11]

According to historian Michael D. Coe, "Maya civilization in the Central Area reached its full glory in the early eighth century, but it must have contained the seeds of its own destruction, for in the century and a half that followed all its magnificent cities had fallen into decline and ultimately suffered abandonment. This was surely one of the most profound social and demographic catastrophes of all human history."[12] Coe lists "environmental collapse" as one of the leading causes of the fall of the great empire, alongside "endemic warfare", "overpopulation", and "drought". "There is mounting evidence for massive deforestation and erosion throughout the Central Area. The Maya apocalypse, for such it was, surely had ecological roots," explains Coe. [13] The corrosive forces of corruption are illustrated in specific scenes throughout the movie. Excessive consumption can be seen in the extravagant lifestyle of the upper-class Maya, their vast wealth contrasted with the sickly, the extremely poor, and the enslaved. Environmental degradation is portrayed both in the exploitation of natural resources such as the over-mining and farming of the land, but also through the treatment of people, families and entire tribes as resources to be harvested and sold to slavery. Political corruption is seen in the leaders' manipulation, the human sacrifice on a large scale, and the mass slave trade.[citation needed] The film shows slaves being forced to create the lime stucco cement that covered their temples, an act that some historians consider a major factor in the Maya decline. One calculation estimates that it would take five tons of jungle forestry to make one ton of quick lime. Historical consultant Richard D. Hansen explains, "I found one pyramid in El Mirador that would have required nearly 650 hectares (1,600 acres) of every single available tree just to cover one building with lime stucco... Epic construction was happening... creating devastation on a huge scale"[14]

However, the filmmakers also intended the Maya collapse to have relevance for contemporary society. The problems "faced by the Maya are extraordinarily similar to those faced today by our own civilization" co-writer Safinia stated during production, "especially when it comes to widespread environmental degradation, excessive consumption and political corruption."[3] The peek through time at this culture of the past serves as a looking glass onto our own lives today. E. Michael Jones, editor of a Catholic magazine, argues that Gibson's film claims that the forces destroying the Maya from within are "occurring in our society now"; he sees Apocalypto as a political allegory about civilizations in decline.[15] Gibson himself has stated that the movie is an attempt at illustrating the parallels between a great fallen empire of the past and the great empires of today, saying "People think that modern man is so enlightened, but we're susceptible to the same forces – and we are also capable of the same heroism and transcendence."[16][3] The film serves as a cultural critique – in Hansen's words, a "social statement" – sending the message that it is never a mistake to question our own assumptions about morality.[17]

However, Gibson has also stated that he does not intended the film to be entirely negative. While the title, Apocalypto, signifies destruction in English, Gibson has claimed that the original Greek means instead "a new beginning"; he says "[It] just expresses so well what I want to convey. I think it's just a universal word. In order for something to begin, something has to end. All of those elements are involved. But it's not a big doomsday picture or anything like that."[18] Gibson's translation is incorrect; the Greek word (αποκαλύπτω or apokalýptō) is in fact a verb meaning "I uncover," "disclose," or "reveal."[19]

[edit] Reception

This scene from Apocalypto was filmed at a waterfall in San Andrés Tuxtla.
This scene from Apocalypto was filmed at a waterfall in San Andrés Tuxtla.

The film was released in the United States on December 8, 2006, to generally positive reviews from film critics. Richard Roeper and guest critic Aisha Tyler on the television show Ebert & Roeper gave it "two big thumbs up" rating.[20] Michael Medved gave Apocalypto four stars (out of four) calling the film "an adrenaline-drenched chase movie" and "a visceral visual experience."[21] Overall, the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 116 out of the 178 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 65% and a certification of "fresh".[22]

Contrary to the omens that the film would not have a warm reception in Mexico, it registered a wider number of viewers than Perfume and Rocky Balboa. It even displaced memorable Mexican premieres such as Titanic and Poseidon.[23] According to polls performed by the newspaper Reforma, 80% of polled Mexicans labeled the film as “very good” or “good”.[23]

Apocalypto gained some passionate champions in the Hollywood community. Actor Robert Duvall called it "maybe the best movie I’ve seen in 25 years."[24][25] Director Quentin Tarantino said, "I think it’s a masterpiece. It was perhaps the best film of that year. I think it was the best artistic film of that year."[26]

[edit] Controversies

Apocalypto has been criticized for historical inaccuracies, for questionable interpretations of history, and for scientific inaccuracies. Writer-producer Safinia addresses such concerns by stating, "The final decision when making a film is, 'What is the right balance between historical authenticity and making it exciting visually as well?' The film is an all out entertainment thrill ride, and that is what it was always designed to do."[27]

[edit] Representation of the Maya

Apocalypto has been criticized by a number of Chicanos, as well as anthropologists and archaeologists working in the field of Mayanist studies, who charge that the film depicts late Maya society as irredeemably violent.[28] In Archeology magazine, anthropologist Traci Arden complains that Gibson "replays, in glorious big-budget technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserve, in fact they needed, rescue. This same idea was used for 500 years to justify the subjugation of Maya people". She agrees that sacrifice was a fact of Maya life, but finds Gibson's film biased because "no mention is made of the achievements in science and art, the profound spirituality and connection to agricultural cycles, or the engineering feats of Maya cities."[29][28][30]

However, some Mayans were not offended by the film. Sara Zapata Mijares, president and founder of Federación de Clubes Yucatecos-USA, a group of Yucatec Mayans in the United States, called it "a great picture", although she commented that the film "should have had a little bit more of the culture. It could have shown a little more why these buildings [pyramids] were built."[31]

Furthermore, some writers felt that Gibson's film was more truthful about the Maya than other representations. Mexican reporter Juan E. Pardinas wrote that "this historical interpretation bears some resemblances with reality […]. Mel Gibson's characters are more similar to the Mayas of the Bonampak's murals than the ones that appear in the Mexican school textbooks".[32][33] "The first researchers tried to make a distinction between the 'peaceful' Maya and the 'brutal' cultures of central Mexico", David Stuart wrote in a 2003 article. "They even tried to say human sacrifice was rare among the Maya." But in carvings and mural paintings, Stuart said: "we have now found more and greater similarities between the Aztecs and Mayas – including a Maya ceremony in which a grotesquely costumed priest is shown pulling the entrails from a bound and apparently living sacrificial victim."[34] Stuart also noted evidence of child sacrifices.[35] Interviewed by the Sunday Times, Gibson defended the film before the attacks of the critics:

"I didn't show half the stuff I read about. I read about an orgy of sacrifice: 20,000 people sacrificed in four days. They were also very fond of impaling genitals and torturing people for years on end. For instance, if they captured a king or queen from another place, they would humiliate them for a decade. They would cut off their lips, have their tongues ripped out, they would have no eyes and no ears. Oh, and they would chew their fingers off. The guy would be alive but was just a babbling mass of nerve endings, then they'd roll him up in a ball after nine years of this stuff and roll him down the temple stairs and pulverise him."[36][37]

Historical consultant Richard D. Hansen states that the impact the film will have on Maya archaeology will be beneficial: "It is a wonderful opportunity to focus world attention on the ancient Maya and to realize the role they played in world history."[38]

[edit] Historical inaccuracies

[edit] Architecture

See also: Maya architecture

The sets in Apocalypto are not historically accurate. While the filmmakers state that the film depicts the latter days – the post classic period – of Maya civilization, the main pyramid in which the human sacrifices are shown occurring actually comes from the classic period, when the Mayas were at their zenith. This period ended in 900 A.D., 600 years before the movie apparently takes place. Richard D. Hansen comments: "There was nothing in the post-classic period that would match the size and majesty of that pyramid in the film. But Gibson was trying to make a story here. He was trying to depict opulence, wealth, consumption of resources."[39]

The Maya city combines details from different Maya and Mesoamerican cultures widely separated by time and place.[30] For example, the temples are in the shape of those of Tikal in the central lowlands classic style but decorated with the Puuc style elements of the north west Yucatan centuries later. Co-writer and co-producer Farhad Safinia states the mixing of architectures had been done for aesthetic reasons.[40]

As in most civilizations, the styles of Maya art changed dramatically over the centuries. The mural in the arched walkway includes elements from the Maya codices combined with elements from the Bonampak murals (over 700 years earlier than the film's setting) and the San Bartolo murals (some 1500 years earlier than the film's setting). Elements of such non-Maya civilizations as those of Teotihuacan and the Aztec are also seen. Robert Carmack, an anthropology professor from SUNY Albany's renowned Mesoamerican program, said "it's a big mistake – almost a tragedy – that they present this as a Maya film."[30] His colleague, Walter Little, agreed, stating that "a lot of people will think this is how it was, unfortunately."[30]

Hansen has defended research that had been done on the film. While Gibson's fictional story is set near the coast of Mexico's Yucatan during the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, Hansen's work in Guatemala's Mirador Basin serves, in large part, as the movie's factual basis: "A lot of the overall ideas that are in the story come from El Mirador, there were a lot of individual scenes that we provided for him [Gibson]. Working on the set was a time machine for me. The Maya houses were exactly like you would expect to see ... the corn husks, the pottery shards, the feathers and textiles, the baskets and mats on the ground."[38]

[edit] Sacrifice and slavery

Stephen Houston, professor of Anthropology at Brown University, points out that film's premise, in which the Maya capture ordinary people for sacrifice, is inaccurate: the sacrificial victims were captured kings, members of royal families, and other high-ranking nobility.[41] However MSN Encarta mentions decapitation of royalty and heart extraction of slaves and prisoners.[42] Karl Taube, professor of Anthropology at the University of California Riverside, objects to the huge pit filled with corpses in the film, citing the lack of evidence for mass graves.[41], and noting that agricultural people like the Maya would not have allowed fields of rotting corpses near their crops.[30] Richard D. Hansen acknowledges that this is "conjecture", saying that "all [Gibson was] trying to do there is express the horror of it [whether those pits existed]."[43]

Taube also objects to the large number of slaves, something for which there is also no evidence.[41] Edgar Martin del Campo complained that Mayan villagers all lived close to cities and would not have been "dumbstruck" by the sight of one.[30] Zachary Hruby, of UC Riverside, lamented the use of the Yucatec Maya language, as it gives a sense of authenticity to a film that he says has taken many unfortunate liberties with the subject. Specifically these liberties include: the style and scale of the sacrifices, the presentation of the Maya villagers as isolated people living off the wild forest, the chronological compression of the more urbanized Terminal Classic Maya and the primarily village-dwelling Late Postclassic Maya.[44]

However, Hansen comments: "We know warfare was going on. The Postclassic center of Tulum is a walled city; these sites had to be in defensive positions. There was tremendous Aztec influence by this time. The Aztecs were clearly ruthless in their conquest and pursuit of sacrificial victims, a practice that spilled over into some of the Maya areas."[38]

Other areas where the film has been criticized for some inaccuracy and liberties taken include the scene where Jaguar Paw and the rest of captives are used as target practice. Archaeologist Jim Brady of Cal State L.A has responded that he has not heard of any evidence of the Mayas staging such a scene, while Hansen states: "The process of using these individuals as target practice is a real possibility. I couldn't say it did happen, but I couldn't say it didn't either. [Gibson] wanted to have some reason to have the guys go after Rudy Youngblood, to go after the hero ... . That was entirely Mel's scenario – but it's highly reasonable."[45]

[edit] Costume

See also: Maya textiles

Hansen admits that the "scenes of people running around with elaborate body paint and bones pierced through their noses"[38] were artistic licence on Gibson's part. However, asked about if there was any historicity of the physical portrayal of the Mayas in Apocalypto in regards to the makeup and body paint, Hansen responded: "Oh, absolutely. I spent hours and hours going through the pottery and the images looking for tattoos. The scarification and tattooing was all researched, the inlaid jade teeth are in there, the ear spools are in there. There is a little doohickey that comes down from the ear through the nose into the septum – that was entirely their artistic innovation."[38] A subtle but interesting example of authenticity in tattooing is found on the left arm of Seven, Jaguar Paw's wife - a horizontal band with two dots above; the Mayan symbol for the number 'seven'.[citation needed]

[edit] Presence of the Spanish

See also: Spanish conquest of Yucatán

Critics have complained that Gibson includes the arrival of a Spanish expedition in the last five minutes of the story, pointing out that the Spanish arrived 300 years after the last large Maya city was abandoned. However, despite the end of construction at many famous postclassic centers, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal, they had not been abandoned at the time of the Spanish arrival, and there were still many comparatively smaller Maya cities such as Mayapan, Tiho, Coba, Chetumal and Nito, and Tayasal, also known as Petzen Itza, survived until 1697 before being conquered by the Spanish.

[edit] Mythology

See also: Maya mythology

In the audio commentary of the film's first DVD release, Safinia states that the myth in the old shaman's story (played by Espiridion Acosta Cache who is an actual modern day Maya storyteller[46]) told at night to the people of the village had been taken from a Mesoamerican tale retranslated into Yucatec Maya with Safinia's own additions.

[edit] Eclipse

The portrayal of the solar eclipse is scientifically inaccurate, as it is shown occurring in just a few seconds, with the moon moving rapidly to obstruct the sun, then remaining motionless for some time, before moving away quickly. In reality, while totality may be brief, eclipses take place over several hours, with the moon moving at a constant pace throughout. In the film, the eclipse is followed by a full moon on what appears to be the evening of the same day, an astronomical impossibility: solar eclipses only occur during the new moon. The full moon and new moon occur about 2 weeks apart. Edgar Martin del Campo of SUNY Albany has pointed out that the Maya had an understanding of astronomy and would not have been in awe of an eclipse as they are depicted in the movie.[30]

[edit] Awards

Apocalypto has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations. For his role as producer and director of the film, Mel Gibson was given the Trustee Award by the First Americans in the Arts organization. Gibson was also awarded the Latino Business Association's Chairman's Visionary Award for his work on Apocalypto on November 2, 2006, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California. At the ceremony, Gibson had said that the film was a "badge of honor for the Latino community."[47] Gibson also stated that Apocalypto would help dismiss the notion that "history only began with Europeans”[48].

[edit] Won

[edit] Nominated

[edit] Cast

  • Rudy Youngblood - Jaguar Paw
  • Dalia Hernández - Seven
  • Jonathan Brewer - Blunted
  • Morris Birdyellowhead - Flint Sky
  • Carlos Emilio Báez - Turtles Run
  • Amílcar Ramírez - Curl Nose
  • Israel Contreras - Smoke Frog
  • Israel Ríos - Cocoa Leaf
  • María Isabel Díaz - Mother-in-Law
  • Iazúa Laríos - Sky Flower
  • Raoul Trujillo - Zero Wolf
  • Gerardo Taracena - Middle Eye
  • Rodolfo Palacios - Snake Ink
  • Ariel Galván - Hanging Moss
  • Bernardo Ruiz - Drunkards Four
  • Ricardo Díaz Mendoza - Cut Rock
  • Richard Can - Ten Peccary
  • Carlos Ramos - Monkey Jaw
  • Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza - Buzzard Hook
  • Marco Antonio Argueta - Speaking Wind
  • Aquetzali García - Oracle Girl
  • María Isidra Hoil - Oracle Girl

[edit] Soundtrack album

Further information: Apocalypto (soundtrack)

The soundtrack to Apocalypto was composed by James Horner, who is known for composing the score of Titanic.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chultuns are underground cavities with a typically narrow opening, which the Maya either excavated in toto or enlarged from a natural depression, which were used chiefly for water storage, but also for the storage of other goods and even burials.
  2. ^ a b [1][dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d e Apocalypto First Look at WildAboutMovies
  4. ^ BProphets-Apoc
  5. ^ spydercam: Info - Work History
  6. ^ CinemaTech: Dion Beebe, Dean Semler, Tom Sigel, and others on Digital Cinematography
  7. ^ "Gibson takes 'Apocalypto' to Oklahoma", Associated Press, 2006-09-23. Retrieved on 2006-09-24. (English) 
  8. ^ "Mel campaigns for new movie, against war in Iraq", Reuters, 2006-09-24. Retrieved on 2006-09-25. (English) 
  9. ^ Movie Poster Awards Archive: November 2006
  10. ^ 'Sunshine,' 'Pirates,' 'Borat' top Key Art noms
  11. ^ MCN Press Release: THR Key Arts Awards
  12. ^ Michael D. Coe, The Maya 7th ed, Thames & Hudson, 2005, pg 161.
  13. ^ Michael D. Coe "The MAYA" 7th ed, pg 162-63
  14. ^ http://www.cinemareview.com/production.asp?prodid=3773 Production Notes: The Heart of Apocalypto
  15. ^ E. Michael Jones, "Abortion and Human Sacrifice in the Americas". 
  16. ^ "Mel Gibson criticizes Iraq war at film fest - Troubled filmmaker draws parallels to collapsing Mayan civilization", Associated Press, September 25, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-12. 
  17. ^ Gibson film angers Mayan groups. BBC.co.uk (2006-12-08). Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  18. ^ Making Yucatec Maya "cool again". Language Log (2005-11-07). Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  19. ^ Making Yucatec Maya "cool again". Language Log (2005-11-07). Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  20. ^ Ebert & Roeper air date 2006-12-10
  21. ^ Apocalypto review by Michael Medved (Microsoft Word document)
  22. ^ "Apocalypto" at rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved January 11, 2008.
  23. ^ a b "Califican con 7.6 a Apocalypto", Reforma, 2007-01-30. 
  24. ^ Robert Duvall interview from Premiere, March 2007. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
  25. ^ "Apocalypto's Biggest Fan" by David Carr, February 12, 2007. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
  26. ^ FILMINK Magazine, August 2007. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
  27. ^ http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=7d6ee7c2b24711821e7b3c08516541b7 For Some Maya, 'Apocalypto' is a Thrill
  28. ^ a b "Gibson film angers Mayan groups", BBC, 8 December 2006
  29. ^ "Is "Apocalypto" Pornography?", Archaeology Magazine, 5 December 2006
  30. ^ a b c d e f g McGuire, Mark. "'Apocalypto' a pack of inaccuracies", San Diego Union Tribune, 12 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-12. 
  31. ^ " globalheritagefund.org. Retrieved on 2007-12-04. “About 25 members of the Maya community in Los Angeles were invited to an advance screening of Gibson's film last week. Two of those who attended came away impressed, but added that they too wished Gibson had shown more of the Maya civilization. "It was a great action film that kept me on the edge of my seat," said Sara Zapata Mijares, president and founder of Federacion de Clubes Yucatecos-USA. "I think it should have had a little bit more of the culture," such as the pyramids. "It could have shown a little more why these buildings were built.”
  32. ^ Translation from the original in Spanish: "La mala noticia es que esta interpretación histórica tiene alguna dosis de realidad […]. Los personajes de Mel Gibson se parecen más a los mayas de los murales de Bonampak que a los que aparecen en los libros de la SEP" —Reforma, "Nacionalismo de piel delgada", 4 February 2007.
  33. ^ Evidence May Back Human Sacrifice Claims
  34. ^ Evidence May Back Human Sacrifice Claims | LiveScience
  35. ^ Stuart, David (2003). "La ideología del sacrificio entre los mayas". Arqueología mexicana XI, 63: 24–29. 
  36. ^ Mel Gibson on his movie 'Apocalypto', interview Sunday Times, January 2007
  37. ^ Mel Gibson Quotes archive
  38. ^ a b c d e Mel Gibson's Maya. Archaeology, Volume 60 Number 1, January/February 2007.
  39. ^ Global Heritage Fund
  40. ^ Global Heritage Fund
  41. ^ a b c The Washington Post, 15 December 2006.
  42. ^ http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576077_2/Maya_Civilization.html |MSN Encarta Maya Civilization part 2
  43. ^ Global Heritage Fund
  44. ^ Hruby, Zachary. "Apocalypto: A New Beginning or a Step Backwards", Mesoweb News & Reports, 08 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-12. 
  45. ^ Global Heritage Fund
  46. ^ Apocalypto - Official Apocalypto DVD Website
  47. ^ Gibson honored by Latino business group - USATODAY.com
  48. ^ TodoExito.com - Events

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews


Preceded by
Happy Feet		 Box office number-one films of 2006 (USA)
December 10, 2006		 Succeeded by
The Pursuit of Happyness
v • d • e
Films directed by Mel Gibson