APOCALYPTO

[Magicdirt]

Tonight 10.25pm on sbs 1.

Despite all his lunatic anti Semitic rants and skull fucked behaviour Mel Gibson has come up with an absolute pearler with this 1.

When I saw it I was gripped from the opening scene and couldn't drag myself away from the T.V for almost an hour.

I realise there are a few historical discrepancies but it doesn't detract at all from the movie.

In my view it is 1 of the top 3 movies of all time.

[ThunderIdeal]

i like the part where he brutally kills every cunt.

[santiago]

thanks magicdirt..............i will be watching this now.

[Amazonian]

I enjoyed this movie too. Its not one you can watch heavily intoxicated though as it has English sub-titles all the way through.

[Sheather]

I would watch this if I didn't have to wake up early

Oh well! Another time I guess. It is a very good movie.

[bℓσωηG]

Love the Mayan time period and setting, how cool would it be to step back in time there...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/101216-maya-acoustics-speakers-audio-sound-archaeology-science/?source=link_fb20101217mayatemplespeakers

[incognito]

Ive had this convo with jeff goldblum before.

Theres not much that Mel Gibson has had his hand in that I havent enjoyed.

Loved Apocalypto, loved Braveheart, even loved Passion of the Christ. Mad Max 2 has to be one of my favorite ever movies.

I think he is a fantastic director. He is definately an artist in that guise.

Should lay of the grog though, alcohol is not his friend. Maybee he should rock the erb instead?

[Rabaelthazar]

In my view it is 1 of the top 3 movies of all time.

 

So, what are the other 2 top movies in your book?

[incognito]

Love the Mayan time period and setting, how cool would it be to step back in time there...

No thanks!!! FOr all of their intelligence and wisdom, it seems they where pretty brutal mofos.

[ThunderIdeal]

i assume you're not basing that comment on apocalypto.

maybe if they could see us and the scale of murder and destruction in the modern world they would think that we are brutal, i dunno.

[incognito]

nah just nearly everything ive ever read or learned about the Mayan Civilisation.

Brilliant, but brutal.

But yeah i really dont know shit so...

[bℓσωηG]

They thought it would make for a better years crop of corn.. Sacrifice to the gods, if only they channeled all that blood via irrigation ditches with water directly into the corn fields they would have had a bumper crop! They just couldnt quite get it , blood =good crop.

It wouldn't be much fun as a Mayan unless you were up there in the heirachy snuffing yopo all day and what not ,having you're toenails buffed by your slave .

[ThunderIdeal]

i wasn't disagreeing, but it seems wrong to attribute greater brutality to any american civilisation compared to the arriving spaniards. put it this way if i had to go back to that era, i think i would go pre-columbus, and preferably mayan rather than aztec who seem to be the ones that performed loads of human sacrifice.

[Magicdirt]

So, what are the other 2 top movies in your book?

 

The Shawshank redemption has always been in my top 3, I've never been to goal but I really like plots where good triumphs over evil. I think I've seen that about 5 or 6 times.

As for the another one to fill the top three, Candy with Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush would have to take a place, but there are a few French films that could push that out of the top three depending on the mood I'm in at the time.

Apocalypto was set in Myan times but the Spanish invade at the end of the movie, which is historically incorrect as the Mayans were gone by the time the Spanish arrived and the Incas and Aztecs were the ones to be be conquered, but Apocalypto is still an excellent movie.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Magicdirt

[santiago]

Apocalypto was set in Myan times but the Spanish invade at the end of the movie, which is historically incorrect as the Mayans were gone by the time the Spanish arrived and the Incas and Aztecs were the one s to be be conquered, but Apocalypto is still an excellent movie.

 

its that old saying i think it goes " dont let the truth get in the way of a good story".

[synchromesh]

Although this film will undoubtedly create interest in the field of Maya archaeology by way of its spectacular reconstructions and beautiful jungle scenes, the lasting impression of Maya and other Pre-Columbian civilizations is this: The Maya were simple jungle bands or bloodthirsty masses duped by false religions, that their mighty but misguided civilization fell into ruin as a result, and their salvation arrived with the coming of Christian beliefs saddled on the backs of Spanish conquistadors. As we archaeologists struggle to accurately reconstruct ancient Maya society, obstructed by their decimation via Western diseases, destruction of their books, art, and history by Spanish friars, not to mention their subjugation and exploitation by the conquistadors, films such as Apocalypto represent a significant disparagement of that process. Further, inaccurate, irresponsible representations by Hollywood of indigenous peoples as amoral, inhuman, or uncivilized can only lead to greater misunderstanding and strife in contemporary society. This may be particularly important in a modern world where common ground is increasingly difficult to come by.

Apocalypto: A New Beginning or a Step Backward?

[Amazonian]

Watched this movie again (third time now). Thanks for the heads up Magicdirt. Some really good acting in it.

[Slybacon]

I thought this movie was shit house. I hated the way they made portrayed this culture. Mel Gibson is a fing twat hole

[bℓσωηG]

I thought this movie was shit house. I hated the way they made portrayed this culture. Mel Gibson is a fing twat hole

lol, at least they didn't use crummy American accents while speaking fluent English which I loathe in movies and refuse to watch ones like that , nothing wrong with subtitles imo

[santiago]

thought it was a great movie....it was not as savage as i was actually expecting and the subtitles rocked, i laughed so hard when the big man rubbed the hot chilli like leaves on his dick...really funny, wow the heads bobbing down the steps was pretty surreal and jaguar paw was lucky son of B (eclipse, jaguar, spanish visitors) for that to be actaually believable but that didnt matter...........and for the realists who cry poor misrepresentation of mayans well i feel sorry you have to hold onto such trivial matters in regards to a purely fictional movie.

[The Dude]

I loved Gibson's film "Braveheart," I really did. But there is something very different about portraying a group of people, who are now recovering from 500 years of colonization, as violent and brutal. These are people who are living with the very real effects of persistent racism that at its heart sees them as less than human. To think that a movie about the 1,000 ways a Maya can kill a Maya--when only 10 years ago Maya people were systematically being exterminated in Guatemala just for being Maya--is in any way okay, entertaining, or helpful is the epitome of a Western fantasy of supremacy that I find sad and ultimately pornographic. It is surely no surprise that "Apolcalypto" has very little to do with Maya culture and instead is Gibson's comment on the excesses he perceives in modern Western society. I just wish he had been honest enough to say this. Instead he has created a beautiful and disturbing portrait that satisfies his need for comment but does violence to one of the most impressive of Native American cultures.

Is "Apocalypto" Pornography?

[The Dude]

...........and for the realists who cry poor misrepresentation of mayans well i feel sorry you have to hold onto such trivial matters in regards to a purely fictional movie.

 

I don't find the mental manipulation of the masses a trivial matter. In fact, I think hollywood is one of the greatest wmd's! Weapons of mass deception!

You under appreciate the hypnotic, opinion forming and magical allure of the silver screen. If they had cast white actors talking english with native american accents it'd be easier to see for a bullshit fictitious story. The use of native american actors talking the traditional language set in real locations with amazing set and costume designs lend the movie some kind of "authenticity" like the setting and the people were well researched beforehand so that the fictitious story seems to at least be based on facts.

The contrast of brutal violence with the serene peace of the ships on the horizon carrying the christian message of salvation, or the apocalypse (lifting of the veil), is much too suggestive to see as 'trivial'. In no uncertain terms Gibson says that the traditional mayan culture is primitive, brutal and mislead by their beliefs and the only way to lift this illusory veil is through the brainwashing of christianity!? (don't get me wrong I love jeebus and the whole christian thing; when there is a lucid experience of holy communion with the spirit of interconnected wisdom, not some propaganda tale).

Hollywood = a mass ritual magically affecting the populace who partake in the ritual, the level of awareness limits the effectiveness of the ritual, it's most effective when the populace is asleep. Hollywood is again a great revelation of how we are directed by the ritual, an apocalypse all of its own, so long as you're awake to see it.

Edited December 20, 2010 by The Dude

[synchromesh]

...........and for the realists who cry poor misrepresentation of mayans well i feel sorry you have to hold onto such trivial matters in regards to a purely fictional movie.

 

Shows how much your ignorant arse knows...

Before Estrada spoke, Gibson addressed the fact that he has been accused of inaccuracies in the film.

“I got a bit of a hard time for accuracies, but that was bullshit,” he said. “I did my research.”

Mel Gibson lashes out during ‘Apocalypto’ screening

[Amazonian]

Forget all the politics. it is just a movie ( based on some facts), not a documentary. You either like it or don't like it. Watch it, don't watch it. Just a bit of legal stimulation for the brain, well , for my brain anyway.(mind you,i am easily stimulated )

[santiago]

gees synchro having a bad day are we, didnt know enjoying a movie constituted ignorance.........maybe i just dont micro analyse every facet of my life, unlike yourself who seems to have all the answers........you must be a really important person.