A review of Apacalypto ran on Morning Edition on Friday. Listen to it here.
The reviewer described the movie as unsuitable for anyone without a taste for "carnage." He went on to state that as Gibson tries to offer a cautionary tale about how great civilizations destroy themselves from within, he contributes to the problem himself by putting on screen graphic violence that we as a culture shouldn't tolerate.
Now, I like me some Mel Gibson disappreciation, because that's just who I am. (I mean, he made "What Women Want" for goodness sake. I can forgive him the DUI before I'll overlook that episode with the hair dryer. Jack Lemmon you are not, Mr. Mel.) But it seems to me that the problem isn't that we put violence on film, but that there's something in us all that connects with this type of violence, and understands it because we've felt the same emotions that prompt it, even if we haven't acted on them.
Of course I also agree that stories are powerful enough to shape our culture, and I do think we need to be responsible about using violence to attempt to tear down violence. (Insert anti-capital punishment slogans here.) But our depravity and its cultural manifestations are sickly symbiotic, making it not entirely Mel's fault that in trying to reveal and undermine our tendency to violence, he's also helping perpetuate it. Remember the winning image from Braveheart? Would Jesus have been on that battlefield? Let's all go watch "The Mission" again and try to decide.
P.S. I do have to say that it is completely unacceptable for all the people in Apacalypto to have facial piercings that look infected. That's just disgusting. I couldn't even make it through the preview.
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Posted by: Andy | June 18, 2007 at 08:40 AM