Demob Happy

The thrill of the chase

8/10

Mel Gibson might have alienated a core part of his audience by choosing to film in a dead Mayan dialect, but Apocalypto’s cinematic conceit is universal: this is a chase movie, and a very good one. In fact, anyone who has watched a movie in foreign language will have little to complain about since it takes only moments to adjust to reading subtitles, albeit in a totally alien tongue. Morever, dialogue plays only a small role in a visceral (often extremely violent) tale of slavery and sacrifice in pre-colonial Mexico. This is pure cinema, and the story is largely told in pulse-quickening cinematic technique: in music, in dynamic, roving camera work, in body language and in atmosphere.

Historical niggles aside - you may question whether isolated jungle communities shared a dialect with the Mayas’ conquering empire - this is an unashamably exciting experience. Bloodthirsty yes, boring no, and all the more refreshing for being told without the baggage of famous faces. Its an epic cat-and-mouse chase which has characters jumping of waterfalls, chased by Jaguars, bitten by snakes and murdered in a variety of enterprisingly nasty ways. Entertainment of the old-school perhaps, including an outrageous centrepiece scene where the protagonists are confronted by the awesome and surreal spectacle of human sacrifice in a recreated Pyramid citadel. Although it is not the first time Gibson has taken dramatic liberties with history (e.g., Braveheart) - and the movie comes off as an apologia for the Conquest - he acquits himself with one of the most thrilling examples of film entertainment I have seen in a few years. Unpretentious, unadulterated fun!