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Apocalypto - Rudy Youngblood, Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Trujillo, Mel Gibson

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

No-one can outrun their destiny.

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Mel Gibson (The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart), comes Apocalypto: a heart stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization. When Jaguar Paw's (Rudy Youngblood) idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film Maya Americas historical meso-america pyramid religion drama adventure human sacrifice revenge

Persons of interest

Rudy Youngblood .... Jaguar Paw
Dalia Hernandez .... Seven
Jonathan Brewer .... Blunted
Morris Birdyellowhead .... Flint Sky
Carlos Emilio Baez .... Turtles Run
Ramirez Amilcar .... Curl Nose
Israel Contreras .... Smoke Frog
Israel Rios .... Cocoa Leaf
María Isabel Díaz .... Mother in Law
Espiridion Acosta Cache .... Old Story Teller
Iazua Larios .... Sky Flower
Hiram Soto .... Fish Hunter
Raoul Trujillo .... Zero Wolf
Gerardo Taracena .... Middle Eye
Rodolfo Palacios .... Snake Ink
Ariel Galvan .... Hanging Moss
Bernardo Ruiz .... Drunkards Four
Ricardo Diaz Mendoza .... Cut Rock
Richard Can .... Ten Peccary
Carlos Ramos .... Monkey Jaw
Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza .... Buzzard Hook
Marco Antonio Argueta .... Speaking Wind
Javier Escobar .... Vicious Holcane
Fernando Hernandez .... High Priest
Maria Isidra Hoil .... Oracle Girl
Aquetzali García .... Oracle Girl
Abel Woolrich .... Laughing Man
Antonio Monroy .... Chilam
Mel Gibson .... Screenwriter
Farhad Safinia .... Screenwriter
Mel Gibson .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Apocalypto official movie site
Apocalypto film production notes (.rtf)
Apocalypto QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2007: Nominated: Make-up, Sound editing, Sound mixing
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 2007: Nominated: Film not in the English language (Mel Gibson, Bruce Davey)
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2006: Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film

NB: Mayan language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Icon Film Distribution

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Apocalypto proves that it doesn't matter what language you speak or in what country you live, religious fundamentalists are the same the world over.

A fundie's first job is to spoil the fun for everyone else; perhaps that's why they're called fun-die. Their second job is to make everyone else live according to their rules, which never include things like laughing, tickling, going to the beach, chilling out or playing sport. Their third job is to find people who are laughing, tickling, going to the beach, chilling out or playing sport and cut out their beating hearts in order to appease an angry god.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Meanwhile, there's a movie about some lightly-clothed, brown-skinned people running about in the paradisaical Central American jungle. Then they move to the big city and all hell breaks loose. (Bloody city-slickers: they'll skin you alive, given half a chance.) That's the story: pretty simple, really.

Actually, there's a lot of subtitling going on throughout the film, too. It's unnecessary as the action and performances are such that you already know what's being said. That's true of a lot of non-English language films but none moreso than Apocalypto.

It's an interesting film from an anthropological point of view but no great shakes from a movie point of view. If this were an all-the-way Hollywood production it would never have been made.