Several people have praised this movie to me, yet they added the postscript: What is the movie about?? Without giving anything away, let me point you to the Will Durant quote that opens the movie:

“A great Civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.”

Some movies give it all up in the title; I’m thinking ‘Snakes on a Plane’ and ‘Free Willie’ for starters. You know there are snakes on an aircraft and you know Willie will go free. Oops. I hope I didn’t spoil that classic movie for you by giving you the ending. And yet there was enough doubt about the outcome to engender a “Free Willie 2” and “Free Willie: the Revenge” : )

So let’s go back to the name of the movie: Apocalypto. This brings up all sorts of end-of-the-world images and references the book of the Apocalypse in the Bible (also known as the Book of Revelations) which recounts all sorts of bloody battles and the final match between Good and Evil in the history of humanity. So you know something cataclysmic will take place, and also that established cultures will meet and clash. That’s all I’m saying before I head into the spoilers that follow……

Big obvious things in the movie:

1. The Mayan culture depended on blood sacrifice to ensure the survival of their crops. So it’s OK that they went into the forest to capture people for ritual sacrifice. Hey, when we need paper for our office desks, we go into the forest and kill a few trees to turn them into paper pulp. We are just using the resources of the rainforest, and isn’t our 400-page report more important than an old tree with a million monkeys swinging from its branches?

2. Seriously now. Our culture is also addicted to a substance that will destroy us. It’s not human blood; it’s distilled petroleum. We need oil to keep our economies going, and we will do crazy things to ensure a steady supply. We don’t go into the jungle to capture humans for sacrifice, but we are willing to get involved in shady and long-drawn conflicts in order to secure oil for the next few years. Just remember what happened to the Mayans: their economy was based on a lie and the first prolonged drought destroyed the entire civilization. You can’t water your crops with blood. You cannot fuel your cars on that same concept.

3. At the end, you see the Spaniards coming to destroy the American native cultures with their diseases, their weapons and the misuse of Christianity. But the Mayan civilization was already on its way out, if you believe the concepts posited by Mel Gibson in this film. Definitely an apocalyptic time for the Mayans.

4. No, the Mayans were not surprised by the solar eclipse that occurs at a crucial time in the film. They were really good astronomers and calendar keepers. They probably knew that it was going to happen ahead of time and even had the prepared speech for the crowds, in order to take advantage of this event.

Film was great, and I’d recommend it to you. There was not as much blood and gore as I expected, and it was well made. Give Mel Gibson a break and go see his movie; it’s a winner.