Apocalyptically Apoplectic
Mel Gibson's Apocalyto bloodbath is actually a pretty good movie. It shows just how horrible life can really be.
Although it is not specifically about the African slave trade, it really sheds light on that era. Huge number of african slaves were captured and rounded-up by rival tribesmen and transported in the most brutal way to the Americas as slaves.
It is actually rather amazing that there are virtually no movies about this entire era. It's particularly amazing when you consider that there must be 10,000,000,000 cowboy movies in existence covering the same historical era in American history, but yet there are virtually no movies on the african slave trade, which was probably a more important factor in American history.
However, it would have been way too politically incorrect for Gibson to make a movie about savage black tribesmen rounding up other savage black tribesmen and selling them to white slave traders. However, in some devious way, this might have been what the movie was REALLY about.
The movie also shed light on the Holocaust, and other holocausts, where people were rounded up and then either enslaved, murdered and/or raped in the most brutal way. It's probably a good commercial for the NRA. After seeing this movie, you'll probably want to go out and buy an M16 and keep it under your pillow at night.
In short, its a very good anthropological picture. The events portrayed have probably occurred MANY times in human history. Life can be horribly brutal. Look at Rwanda. The genocide of approximately 1 million people makes Apocalypto look like a picnic.
Unfortuanately, the plot of the movie was rather fuzzy. Jaguar's Paw lived, but he didn't succeed in saving his tribe. He only saved his immediate family. And the Prophecy stated by the little girl with plague boogers didn't really make much sense.
Great costume on that Mayan headman. Very cool. I'd like to get one of those next Halloween.
Also, most of the actors were apparently real live primitives, which is very cool. I think that Gibson did a good job of showing us their humanness. In the age of Bushworld and Iraq, we tend to think that any non-western people can be conveniently eliminated with the appropriate carpet bombing. Just don't tell us about it.
All in all, I am tempted to say that this movie redeems Gibson for his horrible Jesus movie.
Draft 1: 1/3/07
Although it is not specifically about the African slave trade, it really sheds light on that era. Huge number of african slaves were captured and rounded-up by rival tribesmen and transported in the most brutal way to the Americas as slaves.
It is actually rather amazing that there are virtually no movies about this entire era. It's particularly amazing when you consider that there must be 10,000,000,000 cowboy movies in existence covering the same historical era in American history, but yet there are virtually no movies on the african slave trade, which was probably a more important factor in American history.
However, it would have been way too politically incorrect for Gibson to make a movie about savage black tribesmen rounding up other savage black tribesmen and selling them to white slave traders. However, in some devious way, this might have been what the movie was REALLY about.
The movie also shed light on the Holocaust, and other holocausts, where people were rounded up and then either enslaved, murdered and/or raped in the most brutal way. It's probably a good commercial for the NRA. After seeing this movie, you'll probably want to go out and buy an M16 and keep it under your pillow at night.
In short, its a very good anthropological picture. The events portrayed have probably occurred MANY times in human history. Life can be horribly brutal. Look at Rwanda. The genocide of approximately 1 million people makes Apocalypto look like a picnic.
Unfortuanately, the plot of the movie was rather fuzzy. Jaguar's Paw lived, but he didn't succeed in saving his tribe. He only saved his immediate family. And the Prophecy stated by the little girl with plague boogers didn't really make much sense.
Great costume on that Mayan headman. Very cool. I'd like to get one of those next Halloween.
Also, most of the actors were apparently real live primitives, which is very cool. I think that Gibson did a good job of showing us their humanness. In the age of Bushworld and Iraq, we tend to think that any non-western people can be conveniently eliminated with the appropriate carpet bombing. Just don't tell us about it.
All in all, I am tempted to say that this movie redeems Gibson for his horrible Jesus movie.
Draft 1: 1/3/07
posted by Jack W. Orf | 8:22 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home