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...you're prepared never again to take seriously a super-hero movie, or a Roman-spectacle-type crowd-scene movie, or even anything with a chase scene. Because those three items are done here with an intensity and a panache that may forevermore discourage you from accepting anything similar you see on the screen.
Not just that: Here is a movie that drops you onto a truly alien world, and makes you live there, and believe it.
No other film in my experience has so worthily succeeded.
After Act I, Scene 1, if you are not feeling yourself in the grip of a master, you are immune to greatness in the cinematic art. Or, to restate the case, from that point on I was but a passive participant in the unfolding drama, helpless to change it, or history. Mine eyes did see events I might have wished to remain unseen, and at many places I did nearly choke, but like the men portrayed, I soldiered on.
Nor was this an easy task for any of us: actors, characters, or audience.
So swept up in the flow were we, this Saturday matinee in South Florida (where I am on holiday), that I was far from the only audience member to emit groans, sighs and grunts. Ladies and gentlemen, you have read already about the violence on display, but that is not the worst part. The worst part, springs from the human heart, savage at its reptilian core.
The bullies and killers, are recognizable in shape today -- at work, on committees, in schools and government, on the Net and even (especially?) here on the Asylum. You'll see. They carry long knives and wear sneers on their faces. Not a pleasant crew, ever.
An unintended subtext of this film, perhaps, is how slavery was a great advance in the course of human history.
Slavery's precedent? Sacrifice! Cutting the heart out. Literally. Releasing one on the field to run for "freedom" -- spear-throwers and archers at one's back, laughing and mocking. Fear run rampant.
Perhaps another unintended subtext: These people were no idyllic hunters and gatherers, respecting the earth etc. etc. They led a hardscrabble life, and killed joyfully.
Speaking of "these people", the actors were amateurs all, and while their racial characteristics are unfamiliar to most of us, it must be a tribute to the filmmakers that very soon the faces and personalities emerge, unforgettably -- friends and villains alike. Nor are all the villains... villains, exactly.
We do however meet a high priest who has more than just a hint of slimy televangelist about him.
And behind the throne we see boy children fascinated by the awful proceedings, and teenage girls who clearly are bored out of their heads. (Like, why do we have to be here?) No other film in my experience portrays "primitive" society with as many various types like our own as this.
One instance: As the prisoners from the remote villages are marched into the city, the whole urban spectacle unfolds before them as it does before us. Never before have they witnessed such a magnificent, unexpected scene, nor have we.
These are moments that capture memory.
Another great touch: It's all still under construction! Like any city! Even the temple pyramids where the sacrifices occur, are unfinished.
Image after powerful image courses through this film.
Only a fool would quibble, as I do, about certain aspects of the post-pro (relating to sound, and to the jaguar sequence), but let it pass, let it pass. Even James Horner's music track was acceptable.
In two days I have seen two highly Academy-award-worthy films, and there were some fine ones earlier too. What a year!
But here's the deal: Never mind awards: Apocalypto is a movie for the Ages. Mel Gibson has created a masterpiece.
clark
PS Not one word of any other review was read, before writing this.

Films/DVD Asylum

Apocalypto -- Not recommended, unless, that is...