#Apocalypto mel gibson movie

Some question why Gibson included that scene instead of a sport for which the Mayas are truly famous: ball games. wanted to have some reason to have the guys go after Rudy Youngblood, to go after the hero.That was entirely MelвЂ™s scenario - but itвЂ™s highly reasonable.вЂќ вЂњI couldnвЂ™t say it did happen, but I couldnвЂ™t say it didnвЂ™t either. вЂњThe process of using these individuals as target practice is a real possibility,вЂќ Hansen said. Hansen and Safinia canвЂ™t say for certain that such a game ever existed among the Mayas. Later, he and other captives are given a chance to run for their lives in a deadly game in which Maya warriors throw spears and fire arrows at them for sport. The filmвЂ™s hero, played by actor Rudy Youngblood, is a forest dweller who is taken prisoner by a Maya raiding party. They did roll bodies down the temple steps,вЂќ he said, noting there is evidence that the crowds tore the bodies apart limb by limb, but вЂњyou canвЂ™t show that stuffвЂќ on screen. Safinia says that reality was far more intense than the film shows.

#Apocalypto mel gibson movie

The movie вЂњmakes us think that maybe were bloodthirsty savages,вЂќ Hansen said. All the while, the populace screams and gesticulates wildly as each severed head comes bouncing down the steps.Д®xperts say that although the Mayas did practice human sacrifice, it came late to their civilization and was likely picked up from the Aztecs. In one memorable scene, a Maya priest slashes open the chests of frightened prisoners, rips out their still-beating hearts and decapitates them. GibsonвЂ™s long-awaited film, which opened Friday to mixed reviews and criticism of its scenes of excessive violence, re-creates with great effect the bloody drama of human sacrifice that took place atop a Maya pyramid. вЂњYou do see aspects of the Mayan civilization in the background,вЂќ Safinia said, such as their architecture, their industry and their preponderance to ornament themselves with jewelry, costumes, textiles and such. Safinia said that the filmвЂ™s narrative is told through the eyes of the central protagonist, Jaguar Paw, and it is his journey that we follow. вЂњIt would have been a marvelous part of the story.вЂќ And to watch GibsonвЂ™s вЂњApocalypto,вЂќ one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics. Gibson and Safinia have said they wanted the film to serve as a reminder to todayвЂ™s world that the precursor to the fall of a civilization is always the same: widespread environmental degradation, excessive consumption and political corruption.Д«ut archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. вЂњThe final decision when making a film is, вЂWhat is the right balance between historical authenticity and making it exciting, visually as well?вЂ™ вЂќ said Farhad Safinia, who cowrote the script with Gibson, adding: вЂњThe film is an all out entertainment thrill ride, and that is what it was always designed to do.