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Apocalypto


Lemmiwinks

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I'm pretty impressed to hear that Mel Gibson made a movie on the end of the mayan empire but noone has talked about it. I thought that such a subject would be huge, especially with the upcoming 2012 hype and everything. Has anyone seen it here? Or is it just too bad?

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I'm pretty impressed to hear that Mel Gibson made a movie on the end of the mayan empire but noone has talked about it. I thought that such a subject would be huge, especially with the upcoming 2012 hype and everything. Has anyone seen it here? Or is it just too bad?

It's actually pretty good, IMO. I don't remember getting any 2012 vibe from it. It's more character-driven.
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It's actually pretty good, IMO. I don't remember getting any 2012 vibe from it. It's more character-driven.

+ 1.2

 

I watched it on the big screen and it was a hectic run through the jungle. My hair is inspired by this movie :P:D

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It's actually pretty good, IMO. I don't remember getting any 2012 vibe from it. It's more character-driven.

+ 1.2

 

I watched it on the big screen and it was a hectic run through the jungle. My hair is inspired by this movie :P:D

 

The very end, I have to admit that I was a little bit .. :huh:

Was that supposed to be Columbus' ship approaching?

 

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I liked it very much

but it's just a fictional action filled jungle-drama that's partially pretty gruesome and intense.....from the viewpoint of the main character(s) it could give a slight idea about some aspects of that time and culture

 

other than that there's nothing historical about it

the people who bash this movie hate it for historical reasons...bad portrayal of the culture or whatever, but that's just a non-argument because I doubt it was meant as a historically interesting or accurate movie...

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Great movie in many ways, but as always, the neo-con christian right portrays the heroic europeans as the saviors of the Americas. bleh.

Did you get that? Because for me it was the complete opposite. My first impression was: "what a great diversion for the poor bastard to escape." but then it was followed closely thereafter with a "... and that was the end of the mayan civilization."

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I enjoyed Apocalypto enough the first time I saw it to look into what exactly happened to the Mayans....

 

And Mel got it wrong. I won't bore anyone by listing details, but lets just say that our hero Mayan would have to have been about 5 centuries and change old, to have both visited Mayan cities in use, and 'greet' the Spanish. I question whether or not Gibson even tried to research Mayan history beyond what could be used as set-pieces and costumes.

 

But still its not a bad movie if you ignore that one (blaring) flaw.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ah i finally saw it the other day and was pretty dissapointed... It was NOT a movie about the mayan culture but simply about a tribe being caught and one of the tribesmen escaping... If it weren't for the 15-minute scene where you barely see the Mayan city this movie could've just as easily been about any tribe warrior in any part of the World.

And the scene of the arriving conquistadores didn't have its place at all IMO, it was merely a link meant to give the movie some historic legitimacy.

So yeah it's a cool action movie in the jungle but that's about it... I understand better why this movie wasn't much mentioned when it was released.

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well yeah, that's what I was trying to say...we told you what you could expect ;)

if you look at it that way, it's still pretty good for what it is

although the main character had super human powers

 

yep while I was watching it I was thinking that your description fitted the movie best :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Great movie in many ways, but as always, the neo-con christian right portrays the heroic europeans as the saviors of the Americas. bleh.

I think u misinterpreted mel gibsons message....he wanted to show that the collapse of a civilization starts from inside, making the parallel with todays united states, he wanted to show that a civilization doesnt get destroyed by another superior civilization but from moral degradation. wich is, imo, very true.

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I think u misinterpreted mel gibsons message....he wanted to show that the collapse of a civilization starts from inside, making the parallel with todays united states, he wanted to show that a civilization doesnt get destroyed by another superior civilization but from moral degradation. wich is, imo, very true.

what are you talking about? Spanish and Portugese armies had far superior weapons compared to the Mayans...

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I think u misinterpreted mel gibsons message....he wanted to show that the collapse of a civilization starts from inside, making the parallel with todays united states, he wanted to show that a civilization doesnt get destroyed by another superior civilization but from moral degradation. wich is, imo, very true.

Brilliant and terribly intense film. Also terribly misunderstood. I watched it on a little "mental enhancer" the first time (2ci) and was blown away as I never had been before... not the same for days! I could NTO stop thinkign about it! Watched it again the next week straight and was still impressed.

 

It is so intense and the way it is directed and filmed, it really captures your mind and makes you feel like you ARE the main character in the film... I think this first-person POV technique, so beautifully executed, is what this will be known for in a several years, and others will be imitating it.

 

The "message" is not about Myan history, or "cultural destruction", or the excesses of the Myan ruling class, etc etc....

 

IT IS ABOUT: JOSEPH CAMPBEL'S "HEROES JOURNEY"

 

Think about it... the story of the main character fits this template with near perfection. At first he is living in a state of near natural bliss. Then something strange starts to happen and soon he selected out of his betheren as special and is forced on a journey to a place that must seem like some impossible dream. He almost dies... but escapes... the most telling point is that while he is running from the Myan soldiers after his escape, he has an epiphany... after jumping off the watrerfall (itself a HUGELY symbolic thing and event) he yells up to them, "I am Jaguar Paw. This is *MY* jungle!" and goes on to explain how he is a part of it and it is a part of him... his near-death experience in the horrible temple of the Myan royalty has led to him realizing his identification of his SELF with his WORLD... (i.e., just like Jesus, and other epic mystical heroes whom Campbel identifies). This then gives him a nearly infinite level of power... speed and cunning and luck that cannot be matched by his pursuers... he realizes this at this point ad essentially yells up to them "Catch me if you can motherfuckers... because the power of the entire jungle is living and breathing inside of me and you will never catch me and it is impossible for you to kill me."

 

THAT is what this movie is "about"... and it is a genius piece of film making.

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Brilliant and terribly intense film. Also terribly misunderstood. I watched it on a little "mental enhancer" the first time (2ci) and was blown away as I never had been before... not the same for days! I could NTO stop thinkign about it! Watched it again the next week straight and was still impressed.

 

It is so intense and the way it is directed and filmed, it really captures your mind and makes you feel like you ARE the main character in the film... I think this first-person POV technique, so beautifully executed, is what this will be known for in a several years, and others will be imitating it.

 

The "message" is not about Myan history, or "cultural destruction", or the excesses of the Myan ruling class, etc etc....

 

IT IS ABOUT: JOSEPH CAMPBEL'S "HEROES JOURNEY"

 

Think about it... the story of the main character fits this template with near perfection. At first he is living in a state of near natural bliss. Then something strange starts to happen and soon he selected out of his betheren as special and is forced on a journey to a place that must seem like some impossible dream. He almost dies... but escapes... the most telling point is that while he is running from the Myan soldiers after his escape, he has an epiphany... after jumping off the watrerfall (itself a HUGELY symbolic thing and event) he yells up to them, "I am Jaguar Paw. This is *MY* jungle!" and goes on to explain how he is a part of it and it is a part of him... his near-death experience in the horrible temple of the Myan royalty has led to him realizing his identification of his SELF with his WORLD... (i.e., just like Jesus, and other epic mystical heroes whom Campbel identifies). This then gives him a nearly infinite level of power... speed and cunning and luck that cannot be matched by his pursuers... he realizes this at this point ad essentially yells up to them "Catch me if you can motherfuckers... because the power of the entire jungle is living and breathing inside of me and you will never catch me and it is impossible for you to kill me."

 

THAT is what this movie is "about"... and it is a genius piece of film making.

 

hehe yeah that's like tripping 101: you read something thought provoking, take some mind stimulants and then see connections "proving" whatever you've just read everywhere ;) I would strongly suggest not to focus too much on such connections since a few months later you'll be like "man, what was I thinking??". Believe me, we've all been there :)

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hehe yeah that's like tripping 101: you read something thought provoking, take some mind stimulants and then see connections "proving" whatever you've just read everywhere ;) I would strongly suggest not to focus too much on such connections since a few months later you'll be like "man, what was I thinking??". Believe me, we've all been there :)

I want to try some of those simpleton drugs you take, Lemmiwinks. Must be blissful. :rolleyes:
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I want to try some of those simpleton drugs you take, Lemmiwinks. Must be blissful. :rolleyes:

 

what you mean you've never had that? I thought everyone who's tried acid/ mushies had that. I remember reading Doors of Perception, tripping a few days later and thinkin"man, that's totally true!!", then I watched Matrix and thought that was true, then I read some stuff on shamanism and saw that as true, etc etc...

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