Apocalypto (2006)

Mel Gibson’s second film in a dead language uses the 16th Century Maya as a case study in cultural decay. Forest hunter Jaguar Paw lives a simple, peaceful existence, until slavers from the stone city arrive, burn his village, kill his father, and separate him from his family. Brought to the temple with many of his fellows and intended for human sacrifice, Jaguar Paw is saved by an eclipse, ends up killing the lead slavers son in his attempt to escape, and is thusly pursued through the jungle by the revenge obsessed father and his men. Did I mention that all the while Jaguar Paw’s pregnant wife and eldest son are trapped in a pit near the village with no food and the threat of flood?

Gibson manages to make this ancient world enveloping, now you’ve hear about it, but you’ve never really seen it on film, and it is a sight beyond what I expected. Especially memorable is the ‘stone city’, overcrowded, cruel, beset by famine, disease, and a decadent and out of touch ruling class. These people (meaning the city Mayans) aren’t the relatively peaceful Indians of our more enlightened westerns, they warrant the title ‘savages’, and I found their civilization even less appealing then the arrogant Spartan’s of 2007's 300. In true Gibsonian fashion this film is both lambast at the crueler elements of the human condition, and bloody action flick, and can be appreciated on both levels. I find myself hoping that the director will continue this trilogy, and give us next a feature about the 1st century Christians in Rome shot entirely in Latin. 4 out of 5.