When actor/director/producer Mel Gibson made Braveheart, we all fell to our knees for praise. When he decided to make the Bible epic, The Passion of the Christ, in Aramaic dialect, we forgave him. When we knew he's making a new film about old civilization in Mayan language, we ask ourselves: what's he on about? We questioned his sanity, or maybe lunacy.

But after more than two hours sitting Apocalytpo, I feel sorry for Gibson who was judged right before-hand because in fact, this is a brilliant, seat-gripping action-adventure epic. It maybe the goriest, bloodiest, most brutal and visually graphic film ever made (yes, comparing it to the bloodshed in Braveheart would be so foolish as it would appear to be just minor to Apocalypto), but it's also original and visually glorious in cinematic sense. While blood was spilled and heads were cut off in front of the camera without further ado, Apocalypto is also a staggering factual view into the diminishing of a civilization only to be conquered by more "advanced" culture, as well as a brave tale about a man who ran for his life in order to save his family in the brink of death.

It is basically the story of Jaguar Paw (a naturally magnetic performance by this unknown actor Rudy Youngblood), a peaceful hunter living in a peaceful village in the forest with his family. Until he and his co-villagers discovered that a group of more savage men started pillaging and scouring their village, killing men and women, slaughtering the innocents without warning. He even saw his father die in front him with his last words, "Do not be afraid". They were captured, leaving all the children to hunt and feed by themselves. One scene that nearly moved me to tears was when the captured mothers were tied up in a bamboo while crossing a perilous, rushing river and the children couldn't follow anymore. One child hollered, "Don't worry, I will take care of them! They're now my own!" A poignant scene that shows a child, in the state of confusion, was suddenly faced with a big responsibility, as the mothers utter their prayers for their children's safety. Then, like Death March, they walked miles and miles to reach a distinctive place with a new breath of civilization in the pre-Columbian era, pre-founding of North America. Pyramids stretch everywhere and people worship the sun god, believing that human worship will save them from the god's wrath. Heads are chopped off and bodies were slain to be thrown down the stairs of the pyramids. But as what foretold by destiny that a man with the jaguar will change everything, bringing a bit of "corny" stuff in the film saying Jaguar Paw is the so-called "chosen one". But the element was then sidestepped by Gibson, letting the story turn around in 180 degrees. Jaguar Paw was realeased due to an unprecedented event and was on the run to save his life, and to save his family back in the forest.

The chase in the forest was the most gripping part, and up to the rest of the film, I was like holding my breath. Gibson majestically displays his bravura of making cinema a captivating media. He uses landscapes to fill the lush of the scenes. We must remember that making a film like this would be so limited of visual effects, and since Gibson directs with such passion, he created a world so believable, so convincing, as if you were watching a National Geographic episode about savages and civilization. He's no luncatic, he proves. In fact, he's in top form and convinces audience that he's one of the best directors working today. Making a film out of an ancient language wasn't a fluke at all.

He also manages to cast Native Americans in this film and brought a solid panoply of amazing performances. The actors didn't feel like reading a script but instead, even with subtitles, we feel them as if they were really the savage people, both naturally and effortlessly. And the conclusion of the film, as seen by the eyes of Jaguar Paw, that the world was slowly changing and in their limited knowledge of the world, he discovered that there was a bigger world out there ready to conquer such places as his own habitat in the forest. I mean, isn't it too metaphorical? Peaceful civilations conquered by more complex, more terrorizing and advanced cultures? History speaks it all, and Apocalypto just feels like an authentic glimpse into our society's rise and fall.


Rating: A-

(c) J.S.Datinguinoo