Apocalypto (2006)
Apocalypto is a 2006 historical epic film produced, co-written, and directed by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Native American and Indigenous Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dalia Hernández, Gerardo Taracena, Rodolfo Palacios, Bernardo Ruiz Juarez, Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza, Ricardo Diaz Mendoza, and Israel Contreras. All of the indigenous people depicted in the film were Maya. Similar to Gibson’s earlier film The Passion of the Christ, all dialogue is in a modern approximation of the ancient language of the setting. Here, the Indigenous Yucatec Mayan language is spoken with subtitles, which sometimes refer to the language as Mayan. Principal photography took place in Mexico from 21 November 2005 and ended in July 2006. This was the last film Gibson directed until 2016‘s Hacksaw Ridge ten years later.
Set in Yucatán, Mexico, around the year 1502, Apocalypto portrays the hero’s journey of a young man named Jaguar Paw, a late Mesoamerican hunter and his fellow tribesmen who are captured by an invading force. After the devastation of their village, they are brought on a perilous journey to a Mayan city for human sacrifice at a time when the Mayan civilization is in decline. The film was a box office success, grossing over $120 million worldwide, and received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising Gibson’s direction, Dean Semler’s cinematography, and the performances of the cast, though the portrayal of Mayan civilization and historical accuracy were criticized. The film was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures in North America and Icon Film Distribution in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Plot
While hunting in the Mesoamerican rainforest, Jaguar Paw, his father Flint Sky, and their fellow tribesmen encounter a contingent of fleeing refugees, and the group’s leader explains that their lands were ravaged and asks for permission to pass through the jungle. Flint Sky notes that the refugees were sick with fear and urges Jaguar Paw to never allow fear to infect him. Later that night, the tribe gathers around an elder who tells a prophetic story about a being who is consumed by an emptiness that cannot be satisfied, despite having all the gifts of the world offered to him, and who will continue blindly taking until there is nothing left in the world for him to take, and the world is no more. The next morning, the village is attacked by raiders led by Zero Wolf; huts are set on fire, many villagers are killed, and the surviving adults are taken prisoner.
During the attack, Jaguar Paw lowers his pregnant wife Seven and their young son Turtles Run into a pit. Returning to the fight, Jaguar Paw nearly kills the sadistic raider Middle Eye, but is eventually captured. When Middle Eye realizes that Flint Sky is Jaguar Paw’s father, he kills Flint Sky and mockingly renames Jaguar Paw “Almost”. The raiders tie the captives together and set out on a long forced march through the jungle, leaving the children behind to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, Seven and Turtles Run remain trapped in the pit after a suspicious raider severs the vine leading out of it.
As the party approaches the raiders’ Mayan city, they encounter razed forests and vast fields of failed maize crops, alongside villages decimated by an unknown disease.
They then pass a little girl infected with the plague who prophesies the end of the Mayan world. Once the raiders and captives reach the city, the females are sold into slavery while the males are escorted to the top of a step pyramid to be sacrificed before the Mayan king and queen.
Two captives are sacrificed, but as Jaguar Paw is laid out on the altar, a solar eclipse gives the high priest pause, and the Mayans take the event as an omen that the gods are satisfied and conclude the ceremony, sparing the remaining captives.
They are then taken by the raiders to be used as target practice and offered freedom if they can run to safety. Jaguar Paw suffers an arrow wound, but escapes into the jungle, killing Zero Wolf’s son Cut Rock in the process. Zero Wolf and Middle Eye take their men to chase after him. Fleeing back into the jungle, Jaguar Paw remembers his father’s lesson about fear and resolves to kill his pursuers.
The raiders are killed off one by one, including Zero Wolf and Middle Eye, until only two men are left.
Later, heavy rain begins to fall, threatening to drown Jaguar Paw’s family, who are still trapped in the pit. Seven gives birth to another son, who is born under the surface of the dangerously rising water. Meanwhile, the two remaining raiders chase Jaguar Paw towards the coast, where all three are astonished at the sight of Spanish conquistadors making their way to the shore. As the two raiders are confounded by the Spanish ships, Jaguar Paw uses the distraction to flee and return to his village. Jaguar Paw returns just in time to save his family from the flooding pit, and is overjoyed at the sight of his newborn son.
Later, the reunited family looks out over the water at the Spanish ships. Jaguar Paw decides not to approach the strangers, and they depart, returning into the jungle to seek a new beginning.
Filming.
Gibson filmed Apocalypto mainly in Catemaco, San Andrés Tuxtla and Paso de Ovejas in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The waterfall scene was filmed at Eyipantla Falls, located in San Andrés Tuxtla. Other filming by second-unit crews took place in El Petén, Guatemala. The film was originally slated for an August 4, 2006, release, but Touchstone Pictures delayed the release date to December 8, 2006, due to heavy rains and two hurricanes interfering with filming in Mexico. Principal photography ended in July 2006. Apocalypto was shot on high-definition digital video, using the Panavision Genesis camera. During filming, Gibson and cinematographer Dean Semler employed Spydercam, a suspended camera system allowing shooting from above.
This equipment was used in a scene in which Jaguar Paw leaps off a waterfall.
We had a Spydercam shot from the top of [the] 150-foot [46 m] waterfall, looking over an actor’s shoulder and then plunging over the edge—literally in the waterfall. I thought we’d be doing it on film, but we put the Genesis [camera] up there in a light-weight water housing. The temperatures were beyond 100 degrees [38 °C] at [the] top, and about 60 degrees [15 °C] at the bottom, with the water and the mist. We shot two fifty-minute tapes without any problems—though we [did get] water in there once and fogged up.
A number of animals are featured in Apocalypto, including a Baird’s tapir and a black jaguar. Animatronics or puppets were employed for the scenes injurious to animals.
Cast: The Village
- Rudy Youngblood as Jaguar Paw / Almost
- Dalia Hernández as Seven
- Jonathan Brewer as Blunted
- Morris Birdyellowhead as Flint Sky
- Carlos Emilio Báez as Turtles Run
- AmÃlcar RamÃrez as Curl Nose
- Israel Contreras as Smoke Frog
- Israel RÃos as Cocoa Leaf
- MarÃa Isabel DÃaz as Mother in Law
- Espiridion Acosta Cache as Old Story Teller
- Mayra Serbulo as Young Woman
