Word: apocalyptoã
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Last week, Mel Gibson’s latest gore-fest “Apocalypto?? opened alongside “Blood Diamond,” the violent liberal ego-stroker by Edward M. Zwick ’74, and movie observers pointed to a trend of serious violence in movies. David Carr, the New York Times’ so-called “Carpetbagger” (Oscar observer), wrote a column about how many movies tagged with the speculative title of “Oscar-worthy” are filled with blood...
...Apocalypto,” Mel Gibson doesn’t try to persuade you to care about the fall of the Mayan empire. He’s more interested in painting the last bit of blood on that recently eviscerated human heart. The violence in “Apocalypto?? seems obscene because Gibson does nothing to justify or contextualize it. The main character (Jaguar Paw, played by Rudy Youngblood) is motivated largely by the fear of having his skin peeled off, literally...
...Film and Television: “Violence can be a corollary of gravity and seriousness… There is increasingly a choreography of violence, a way of aestheticizing it, that makes it more acceptable and worthy of recognition.” The problem with films like “Apocalypto?? (and its forerunner, “The Passion of the Christ”) is that although they try to be serious, they invariably drown in the ‘aesthetics of violence’ and forget to explain the motivation or relevance for the violence...
...since the gore in both films finds its source in a historical event, the viewer doesn’t become skeptical or alienated when body parts start to fly. Gibson’s revisionist take on history is too fanciful to give “Apocalypto?? or “The Passion of the Christ” the same firm grounding...
...Feathers and beads, “Apocalypto??: A constant reminder that even if you’ve made mistakes in life—drunk-driving arrests, anti-Semitic tirades, “Lethal Weapon 4”—you can still make millions of dollars in Hollywood. 2. Al Gore’s sensibly casual suit, “The Inconvenient Truth”: What environmentally conscious 19-year-old wouldn’t want to be Al Gore for a day? Add a “Give ‘em hell...