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Keep on running
Nils van der Linden
Posted Thu, 25 Jan 2007
In the past few months Mel Gibson has been accused of pretty much everything, short of causing global warming or being the secret love child of Idi Amin. And his little drink, drive and slur incident has certainly tarnished his CV — actor, procreator, alcoholic, bigot. But despite what you may think of the potty-mouthed Australian with seven children, there’s no denying that, as a director, he’s nothing if not ambitious.
For all their flaws, both ‘Braveheart’ and ‘The Passion Of The Christ’ are visually spectacular, the kind of primal film that forces you to taste the mud, smell the blue greasepaint, share the agony of a man being disemboweled, or feel like you (and not the character on screen) has just been brutally whipped for 10 minutes.
Subtle they’re not, but Gibson’s directorial efforts are certainly effective — where many films knock you around the ears a little, his kick you in the balls. Repeatedly.
‘Apocalypto’ is little different. Its scenes of decapitation, impalement and some general nastiness like raping and pillaging, are presented with the same savage intensity, its messages of the moral corruption in “advanced” society and the need for rebirth as heavy-handed as a caveman’s club — and confused as a drunk driver.
True to form, he also repeats the trick of using an extinct tongue — this time it’s the Mayan Yucatec dialect, if you’re one for minutiae — and saving on the budget by hiring himself as a screenwriter. But while the language selection is more than just a gimmick — it helps us realise that although we literally can’t understand the people and don’t share their culture, we have similar feelings and needs — the selection of the writer was less inspired.
Granted, Gibson probably just wanted a skeleton to hang his themes on, but we're literally talking bare bones here. A friendly, peace-loving tribe go about their humble ways: catching animals, talking nonsense around the campfire, playing with their kids, fighting with their cranky mothers in law. Pretty average stuff. Then a powerful, savage group rip up the village, randomly killing women and children, capturing the strong men, including our hero, Jaguar Paw.
And so the walking begins. But it doesn’t seem to end as the captives are marched to the baddies' city, in what seems like real time. Finally, there's a change in pace — even if it's only from walking to running. Jag escapes and sprints all the way home to his wife and kid who cunningly managed to survive the attack by hiding.
That's about it, really.
But, to be fair, Gibson excels at bringing us close to a tribe so far removed from what we know. And his eye for striking visuals ensures that the climactic chase sequences at least are breathless, frenzied and, dare I say, even exciting. With the cinematographer of 'Dances With Wolves' in tow, he throws his cameras around with all the abandon of a liquor-fuelled tirade, lending a messy, break-neck kineticism to the action sequences occasionally thrown in to bump up the flagging tempo.
Pity then that the digital cameras he's used aren’t up to the job. They handle the normal-paced scenes as well as traditional equipment, but as soon as the pace on screen hots up, the footage looks like it was shot on a handycam from Hi-Fi Corporation. When a film relies so heavily on its visuals, such flaws are unforgivable.
'Apocalypto' might be the most ambitious film Gibson has tackled, but it's certainly not his best.
