Movies and Film Writing Sample, Katy, Tx.

Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is his third historical movie in what seems to be the director’s approach to bringing old world subjects into the 21^st century. He has stirred up controversy in the past with his two previous films Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. His trademark blood, savage brutality, and depictions of hordes of people amassing on helpless victims are evident in Apocalypto as well. Braveheart introduced the hero William Wallace fighting for the rights and freedom of Scotland from oppressive British monarchist rule. The Passion of the Christ portrayed the life of Jesus as that of a man following the path of his destiny. Both of those movies showed the horrors of war upon another nation and the one on the human spirit. However, Apocalypto has introduced audiences the world over to the little known historical fact that some tribes in a small part of the world practiced ritual human sacrifice.

Apocalypto begins in the jungles of the lower Yucatan peninsula. Our hero, Jaguar Paw, is hunting a boar with members of his own tribe. There is much joking around and poking fun at one hapless young man. The mood is broken when the group is surprised by members of another tribe trying to pass through their part of the jungle. The stark terror on their faces foreshadows the horrors that will soon descend upon Jaguar Paw and his tribe. After the other tribe has moved on and Jaguar Paw and his tribesmen have returned to their village with their kill the next few scenes are meant to portray life in the 15^th century jungles of the Mayan people. The young people and children gather around the fire to hear the elders tell the stories of their tribes. Jaguar Paw is riveted to these stories and holds his very pregnant wife and young son close to him. During the night, he has an ominous dream in which the man from the other tribe he met in the jungle tells him to run. Jaguar Paw awakes to sounds in the early morning and is instantly aware that his village is under attack from a marauding group of Mayans from another civilization.

To make the distinction between the two tribes Mel Gibson has done his research and separated the two groups in both their physical appearances and organizational skills. The marauders decorated with facial tattoos, more elaborate piercing, fancier styles of dress, and are better fighters. They quickly subdue the villagers but not before Jaguar Paw has managed to hide his pregnant wife and little son by dropping them down a well. The invading tribe gathers all the strong, able-bodied men, and lashes them together to a pole. The women, the ones that are not raped and murdered, are also lashed to poles. Most of the elderly men and women of the village are murdered before the eyes of the rest of the tribe including Jaguar Paw’s father. The children are left alone to fend for themselves once the marauders have finished tying up all their captives and lead them out of the village.

The next part of the movie shows how the marauders force the men and women to march for days through thick jungle and up through the mountains leading them to their city. Along the way they encounter a plague-stricken child who foretells their doom at the hands of the outsider they have in their midst. Knowing anything at all about the ancient stories of the Mayans and the Aztecs and their ritual human sacrifice practices the audience is aware of the fate awaiting Jaguar Paw and the rest of this tribe. The more civilized of the Mayans, the ones who built the pyramids and the cities, specifically invaded what they considered lesser-civilized jungle tribes in order to capture people and offer them as sacrifices to the gods rather than take people from among their own classes as sacrifices. Gibson is now demonstrating how people from seemingly the same culture have vastly different belief systems. The second part of the movie is spent in showing the gory ritual of human sacrifice, the screaming crowds of the people gathered around the base of the pyramids to watch the rituals. Jaguar Paw narrowly escapes becoming a sacrifice through the astronomical coincidence of a solar eclipse. Rather than simply letting Jaguar Paw and his fellow tribesmen go, they are now used as sport by their captors. Jaguar Paw against all the odds escapes them too and a fantastic chase through the jungle ensues as one by one Jaguar Paw eliminates his enemies, saves his family, and restores the hope that he is the only one who can rebuild his tribe once again.

Gibson wanted to portray a society steeped deep in the mysticism and belief that only the blood of a human being could appease the gods, bring about a good harvest, and stave off the inevitable downfall of such a society. He wanted to present the other, gentler side of people just trying to survive deep in the jungle and having no power to defend themselves against a more organized, deadly enemy. The movie succeeds in making audiences root for the hero that Jaguar Paw unwittingly becomes when his survival is put to the ultimate test. It is a brutal movie to watch but at the same time a visually stunning feat of cinematography. Gibson chose to film in the Yucatan jungles and used an ancient Mayan language to further immerse the audience into that 15^th century culture. Rather than use well-known actors, he chose instead to rely on the sole talents of unknowns who bring the characters to life especially the young actor portraying Jaguar Paw. Gibson has once again captivated audiences with another brilliant film sure to stay in the imagination long after the credits have stopped rolling.