Mel Gibson knows how to tell a story. He’s a brilliant director who has the ability to combine war and fairytales. He did it in “Braveheart” and he’s done it again in Apocalyto, mesmerizing the audience into spell-binding fear, laughter and stunning visuals. As the Maya kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), a young man chosen for sacrifice, flees the kingdom to avoid his fate and return to his young wife awaiting him in a cave. And while we have nothing in common with this primitive nation – a people we shouldn’t understand – somehow we do. Gibson knows how to connect us through moments of family and safety and then tear us to shreds when it’s all destroyed. Gibson loves mayhem and massacres and boogey men – whether Scottish soldiers or tribes in loin cloths. And this movie, brilliantly directed and written, is Braveheart again, only this time with nose rings. Every year there are classless ax murdering movies and there are horror films, but this movie tells violence with purpose, within the context of history. And worth every moment of it. Four tiaras
