Quote:
Originally Posted by ISiddiqui
Reminds me, I saw Apocalypto recently as well:
Apocalypto - 4/10: Meh... very interest Mayan city, but really a bare bones plot and a chase scene. I think you could have picked a far better plot line to explain how a civilzation collapses (which I believe Mel said was his reasons). It was nice to see the environmental degradation (as that did contribute IRL). The straw that broke the back (and dropped it below 50%) was when the wife had the kid in the water. Utterly silly and Hollywood-ish.
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I have nothing but a passing interest in Mayan civilization (though that has probably changed since seeing the movie, as I found myself looking at some Mayan history books yesterday afternoon), but I definately liked the idea behind the movie, and it's portrayal of the degredation of the Mayan society from within. Most people put the emphasis on its destruction with the Spanish, but they had a lot of help from the native tribes who allied themselves with the Spanish, and without whom the Spanish would not have succeeded.
Mel Gibson could easily have made a big bloated epic about this particular issue (complete with evil Spanish dudes shooting truckloads of natives, and an evil Mayan king as a main character), but instead he made it a far more personal movie about a man and his family, and I think it was a better movie for it.