Robert W. Welkos
A key consultant among several archeologists who served as advisors on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" said he is disappointed that the film overlooks many of the Mayas' cultural and scientific achievements and portrays the people as "bloodthirsty savages."
Hey, Europe was savage at one time. Conan the Barbarian didn't own a toothbrush.
As a chase movie, "Apocalypto" is top-notch, said Richard D. Hansen, a professor of anthropology at Idaho State University who has written extensively about the Mayas. The sets, makeup and costumes are also "accurate to the nth degree," he noted. But it's a feature film — not a documentary — which may let down those looking for accuracy at every turn. "This is Hollywood, first and foremost," Hansen said.
Even if it is, I still enjoyed the movie on all levels. Gibson defended family values in "We Were Soldiers," "The Patriot"and "Signs," and he does it again in this film.
Somebody always has to whine, and the NYT is better at it than most.
As with any historically based feature, whether it's "Alexander" or "All the President's Men," directors take creative license with the facts. "Apocalypto" is no different. "The final decision when making a film is, 'What is the right balance between historical authenticity and making it exciting, visually as well?' " said Farhad Safinia, who co-wrote the script with Gibson, adding: "The film is an all out entertainment thrill ride, and that is what it was always designed to do. It is a work of fiction."
Gibson and Safinia have said they wanted the film to serve as a reminder to today's world that the precursor to the fall of a civilization is always the same: widespread environmental degradation, excessive consumption and political corruption.
What happened to the Mayans mirrors what is happening to Iran's Ayatollahs. What is the difference between Mayans making human sacrifices to appease their tribal gods, and the Ayatollah's martyr indoctrinations? Iran is a decadent society that needs an external push to quicken its internal crumble.
But archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. And to watch Gibson's "Apocalypto," one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics.The Egyptians were also advanced, but they spent hundreds of years building pyramid crypts for their god-kings. Slaves who slacked off, were murdered.
"The calendar [angle] is so rich," Hansen said. "It would have been a marvelous part of the story."
Safinia said that the film's narrative is told through the eyes of the central protagonist, Jaguar Paw, and it is his journey that we follow. "You do see aspects of the Mayan civilization in the background," Safinia said, such as their architecture, their industry and their preponderance to ornament themselves with jewelry, costumes, textiles and such.
C'mon Mel. Next film: "Ayatollakaputo." But ease up on the Jews.