APOCALYPTO

[Solid Citizen]

Would like to hear what fellow FL members liked & disliked after seeing the film?
We saw the film today.

SC

 

[Solid Citizen]

Washington Post APOCALYPTO Article

This article appeared in today's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR2006120801815.html

IMO as long as as the action remained in the jungle it was an exciting movie

SC

 

[Roger]

I haven't seen it. We took the kids to see The Nativity Story yesterday. I'd like to see this movie next week. I'll drop the wife and the smaller ones off in downtown Walnut Creek for Christmas shopping and the older kids and I will see this. But, I'd also like to hear others views of Apocalypto.[huh]

 

[Roger]

This article appeared in today's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR2006120801815.html

IMO as long as as the action remained in the jungle it was an exciting movie

SC

So it's politically incorrect. I'll definetly see it then.

 

[resortes805]

Pure Drivel

I help coordinate a program that teaches Mayan math, science and engineering to little kids. Not only is 'Apocalypto' a bad movie, but it actually makes my job harder by forcing us to spend extra time dispelling myths perpetrated by a movie about a culture that is already misunderstood as it is. :rage:

I usually don't get worked up over little things, but this hits too close to home. Besides, I swore off Mel Gibson movies after he and Danny Glover beat up Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 (yeah right).

 

[Solid Citizen]

No, Roger the Washington Post link relates to historical accuracy of the film vs. Hollywood (NOT political fftopic: )

SC

 

[Roger]

I read the article and it was talking about "historical accuracy" and the "historical accuracy" that the movie didn't get right was "mass genocide and graves" the article also says that human sacrifice as practiced by the Mayan's was reserved for royalty etc. not common jungle people.:eusa_doh: And that there wasn't slavery. Oh boy, misunderstood.lol

Anyway the article said that the movie got the costumes, tattoo's and other things accurate.

 

[The Wolf]

I'm curious about the movie

A film in ancient Mayan language intrigues me.
Seeing a Mayan civilization in this movie might be as close to a movie of "The Man of Bronze" as I'm going to get.

Roger, have you read the Doc Savage story "The Man of Bronze"? I can only imagine how accurate a pulp story from 1933 would be concerning the Maya.

Sincerely,
The WOLF

 

[Benny Holiday]

Why inaccuracies?

Why include blatant inaccuracies in films like this? I'm a 21st Century Australian. What do I know about the Maya? If not for this thread, I'd have gone to see the film and figured it might well have been realistic.

Gibson and friends had the experts and historians with them. They'd still have their exciting chase movie even if they'd stuck to accurate history (or as accurate as archaelogists have been able to reconstruct it). I'm turned off the idea of seeing it if half of it's a load of bulldust that's offensive to the modern descendants of Mayans (which I take includes our friend Resortes). I know I wouldn't appreciate a film that makes Australia's history out to be something that it wasn't, portraying my forebears in an erroneous light.

Maybe the descendants of the Mayans will do a film revising Anglo/American history to their liking and we'll see who enjoys watching that.

 

[Lincsong]

Let's stay on topic fellows. If every movie was accurate it would be boring and akin to watching PBS. So how was the acting and sequences? This movie sounds a little too violent for my staid tastes; human sacrifices is not in my Top 10 List to see. So who liked it? Who thought it was dull?

 

[Avalon]

If every movie was accurate it would be boring and akin to watching PBS.

Hey, I like PBS.

Is Mr Gibson selling this movie as historically valid, or as "inspired" ?

 

[Doug C]

I thought the movie was excellent, one of the best I've seen in a long time. It's non stop action and has a real since of mystery about it. Gibson did a fantastic job, and I don't think any less of the Myan people because of it. Maybe a statement could have been added somewhere about it being inspired by events or something but I didn't really care. It's also a movie about fighting over-whelming odds, I usually like subjects like that. BTW, I saw it at a theater that shows movies using DLP technology and let me tell you that jungle came to life! A friend of mine called me last night and invited me to go see it and I agreed although I've already seen it once -

Doug C

 

[Roger]

Thank you Doug. Afterall, aren't the majority of movies fantasy? I really think this is an interesting movie. I'd enjoy seeing it in that format as you saw it.

 

[Twitch]

ALL movies, unless they are docu-dramas, are entertainment! All this business niggling about minor points of historical accuracy regarding any movie is rubbish. If you want historical accuracy watch the History Channel.

The upside is that the topic may induce some people to study the Mayan culture further and that can't be bad.

 

[Benny Holiday]

I have to disagree on that point

I think the matters of historical accuracy are only 'minor' if it's not your background.

To illustrate my point, say I produce a movie about the French and Indian War, and portray George Washington as a ruthless character fuelled by ambition, a backstabber and a manipulator who murdered Frenchmen and Canadians only in order to make a name for himself and garner promotion. Now that mightn't be historically accurate, but it'd be entertaining to see the drama and conflict, wouldn't it?

If it was shown in Australia, I'd say more than half the viewers would be inclined to form a different view of George Washington, knowing him only as the first President of the United States and a respected figure in history. It's only meant to be entertainment, but wouldn't it hurt me to research the man a little better than that before I portrayed him on the screen? Why offend millions of Americans (or Latino decsendants of Mayans) for the sake of a little care in research?

 

[Twitch]

I am a writer/editor of historical air combat. I have yet to see a movie concerning combat aircraft or general war movies that I can't find inaccurate details in. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy and escape in the fictional storyline even if it is modified from actual history.

Movies, even ones attempting to some degree to be accurate, are creative licenses. The ability to write a script is alltogether different from writing a chronical of a historical event unfolding.

I was involved in the combat gaming and flight simulator industry for a good while. I can say that hard core gamers cried about demanding 100% accuracy in the flight models of their planes, tanks and ships. Of course none knew what accurate even was. The developers create titles to entertain people and take license to modify them for better gameplay. No one but a handfull of people would or could even handle the intricate work load demanded by 100% accurate vehicle models. IE., they wouldn't sell!

And that is what a movie nowadays is all about, entertaining and making money in the process. The Sundance Festival has plenty of off the wall, non-mainstream stuff for fans of the esoteric to see. Hollywood is Hollywood. The Learning Channel, History Channel and Discovery Channel are video tools to present informative and historical subjects.

Seeing this picture might actually stimulate someone to read book and get real information as did Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan or Bridge on the River Kwai!

 

[Benny Holiday]

Seeing this picture might actually stimulate someone to read book and get real information as did Pearl Harbor, Saving Private Ryan or Bridge on the River Kwai!

I can see your point, Twitch, about escapism and realism in movies. I guess my concern is just knowing how apathetic the garden-variety Aussie is. History channel? Huh? Nah, not while the cricket or footy's on, mate! lol The prevailing attitude is, Hey, it's gotta be right, 'cause I saw it in that movie, read it in the paper, etc. About the only thing people here are willing to question is politicians, and even then they're too apathetic to really make a noise and get some change enacted!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I'll probably go and see this this weekend. I get the impression from the trailers that it's going to be one big long "oooo, weren't they primitive"-fest, like all historical movies dealing with non wetsren-european/north american "civilised" cultures. A bit like his Passion "oooo, look at the blood"-fest and his Braveheart "oooo, look at the big swords"-fest.

bk

 

[Solid Citizen]

Mayan City State

The Mayan City State scenes within APOCALYPTO are the ones where the Aztec Historical points of mass executions/slavery are placed within a Mayan context which was the focus of the posted newspaper article.

For me this was a highly "entertaining" chase movie using subject matter, costumes etc. not covered before in a major movie at least like this was done here. Strong unknown actors in the roles added to the air of mystery. Sure the movie had a "Disneyized" atmosphere (Jaguar Paws Family/Village). Would I buy the DVD? YES!

SC

 

[Spitfire]

I'll probably go and see this this weekend. I get the impression from the trailers that it's going to be one big long "oooo, weren't they primitive"-fest, like all historical movies dealing with non wetsren-european/north american "civilised" cultures. A bit like his Passion "oooo, look at the blood"-fest and his Braveheart "oooo, look at the big swords"-fest.

bk

Hey Baron, didn't know you read danish newspapers!
That's more or less what one of them wrote today. "Gibson is speculating in violence and a dash of racism again." First Braveheart, where he got his inside turned out - very slowly. Then Passion - even more violence, blod and gore...and now this. Pure speculation wrapped up in so called history."

Don't shoot the messenger