Apocalypto (R)
The bloody end of a civilization. Not for kids.
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- Studio: Touchstone Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
- Directed By: Mel Gibson
- Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Raoul Trujillo
- Running Time: 148 minutes
- Release Date: 12/07/2006
- Video/DVD Release Date: 05/22/2007
- Genre: Action/adventure
- MPAA Rating: R
- MPAA Explanation: sequences of graphic violence and disturbing images.
Parents need to know
Families can talk about the role of violence in the movie. Is it appropriate for the story that's being told? Which parts, if any, are gratuitous? How accurate do you think it is? Director Mel Gibson has become known for making very violent movies -- why do you think a filmmaker might be drawn to that kind of material? How about the subtitles? Why do you think Gibson chose to film the movie in Yucatec? Families can also talk about the relationships between the different groups of Mayans in the movie. Why does one group think the other is suitable for labor and sacrifice? How does the film represent Mayan religious rituals? How does Jaguar Paw's devotion to his family make him a familiar and also mythic hero?
Message
Social Behavior:
The noble hero must answer brutal, relentless villains with his own form of brutality.
Consumerism:
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Violence
Gory violence is explicit and almost non-stop, in some form or another. An early hunting scene sets the tone when a tapir is abruptly killed and cut open. Bloody assaults (rape is implied in some cases); weapons include spears, knives, arrows, poison darts, spiked traps, and other tools. Men are chased, hit, kicked, knifed, beaten, speared, cut open (their hearts are cut out and held up in ritual sacrifice while they're still alive), and beheaded (this is also graphic, with heads and bodies falling down a long staircase with loud thuds). Frequent shots of injured, bloody bodies and faces (including one particularly gruesome scene in which an exposed brain spurts blood). A man's throat is cut in front of his horrified son, and a jaguar rips a man to pieces before being brutally stabbed to death. Frequent deadly peril.
Sex
Naked or near-naked bodies throughout (16th-century tribal communities); jokey references to one man's impotence (he's given tapir "balls" to eat and a salve that makes his genitals burn, and his wife appears with her mouth also "burning," indicating off-screen fellatio).
Language
In subtitles: One "f--ked," plus "damn."
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs
Is it any good?
Jaguar Paw's story is an occasion for imagining what happened to the Mayan civilization. Assuming the Spanish "explorers" didn't destroy the Mayans in one fell swoop, Apocalypto offers up an assortment of explanations, both material and spiritual, for their downfall. The start of the collective fall, the film suggests, comes with assaults on individuals. While it's clear that the hero not only endures, but also exacts vengeance when he must, the film doesn't ever get around to considering consequences for all the mayhem.
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