Apocalypto

When I was in 5th grade I did a report on the Mayan Indians. I was fascinated with them, in a way that only something disturbing and gruesome can. They were vicious, with human sacrifices, cutting out hearts and slicing off heads for their gods. Jump to last Friday, when I sat myself down to watch the acclaimed Apocalypto. I had heard three main things about this movie - 1. It was incredible. 2. It was disturbing and graphic but incredible. 3. It had subtitles, but you got used to it eventually. (This last comment I always found humorous, being as it was stated by adults who really should have seen at least one, if not two, subtitled movies at a previous point in time, and realize there isn't anything to get used to. But who am I to judge?) So though I was iffy about watching a disturbing movie, I thought I'd give it a chance. For those of you who aren't aware of what the movie is about, there is a small tribe of Mayan Indians living their lives in peaceful harmony. The main character is Jaguar Paw who is a great hunter and also has a wife and small child. One night another tribe attacks, killing and kidnapping at will. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his family but ends up captured. The remainder of the story is his determination to survive and make his way back home to safe his small family.

Yes this movie is incredible. It was filmed in Mexico and the scenery is beautiful. The story is good and you do care about what happens to these people. However, it is also incredibly disturbing. Children are left parent less, people are stabbed and chopped up left and right. There is a point when the captives are being led through dying cornfields Jaguar Paw asks a companion where they are being taken. The companion answers, telling him they hear stories of stone buildings that bleed into the earth, and they are getting closer. At this point I realized this movie was about Mayan Indians and recalled my report many years ago. Yep, there it was, the sacrificial alter right there on my screen. This was the most disturbing for me. I'm not big on blood and gore and there was plenty shown during the sacrifices and then good ol' Mel decided to throw in some more during some chase scenes. This was not enjoyable. It was stressful and I sat watching through my fingers at the screen.

In the end, I could finally sit up straight and stop clutching my blanket. I decided it was worth watching and agree with comment #2 - this movie is disturbing and graphic but incredible. And really, the most important part of the story to me, being a hopeless romantic, was the love story. In the end, love always wins.