Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Carlos Emilio Baez
Director: Mel Gibson
Category: III (Mayan)
Mel Gibson is a filmmaker obsessed with death. The first victim of his Mexico- based epic Apocalypto is a wild boar. The animal is hunted down and has its heart, kidneys and testicles torn from its torso by a hunter - who, in turn, will be hunted by Mesoamerican marauders. If the opening scenes are too much for you, be warned: they're merely the appetiser in a bloody visual feast that rivals Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
There's a welcome respite from violence early in the film, during which Gibson and Farhad Safinia - who co-wrote the script in Mayan - show us the beautiful small village where the hunter, Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), his pregnant wife, Seven (Dalia Hernandez), and son Turtle (Carlos Emilio Baez) live. Their pastoral life - hunting, cooking, making love and storytelling by the campfire - is simple and relaxing.
But happiness is guaranteed to be shortlived in a Gibson film, and Apocalypto quickly becomes a showcase of torture and suffering. The village is ravaged by the marauders early in the morning. Men get bashed or have their throat slashed, women are raped, and children are left to die. But if you think this is bad, there's worse to come.