Apacalypto: a controversial thriller

It's safe to say that indigenous peoples welcome Hollywood depictions of their culture about as much as they await yet another film starring Jennifer Lopez. Anything that isn't another lame romantic comedy or just a series of dazzling special effects is bound to upset somebody in one way or another.

After Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic tirade this past summer, his future success at the box office seemed uncertain. Any doubt was dispelled when his latest cinematic venture, Apocalypto, hit number one at the box office.

With such an ambitious and peculiar title, one expects a dramatic end-of-times masterpiece. Going simply by the name, it could easily be mistaken as a sequel to Gibson's 2004 bloody megahit, Passion of the Christ.

Apocalypto is set during the last years of the great Mayan civilization and stars newcomer Rudy Youngblood, who plays Jaguar Paw. The protagonist manages to hide his pregnant wife and toddler when their village is raided and before taken prisoner to be ritually sacrificed. He must escape certain death and go back to rescue his family.

A Mayan dialect is spoken throughout the film, which was shot on location in Veracruz, Mexico. Gibson cast a large number of indigenous actors, which has drawn praise from Latino and Native American groups in the United States. The period costumes and monumental architecture for the film seemed well-researched.

Predictably, however, Apocalypto has drawn sharp criticism. Professor Gerardo Aldana from the University of California at Santa Barbara believes the movie does an extreme disservice to Maya and Mesoamerican cultures past and present. Indigenous activists in Guatemala have also claimed that the film is racist.

As quoted on movies.aol.com, Mel Gibson commented on the universality of the film. "It has a lot of underlying messages, particularly about what we might be doing to ourselves. Are we destroying our environment? Are we guilty of using fear as a manipulative fear? Are we guilty of having people in high places be corrupt?"

In the closing scene of Apocalypto, we see Spaniard ships approaching in the distance, foretelling the Mayan civilization's impending doom, the destruction of an entire way of life.

Oftentimes the only way many people are exposed to vastly different cultures is through movies, television, or other mainstream media outlets.

Although it's important to keep in mind the impact these images have on popular culture and the national American imagination, there are significant events in real life of which to be truly critical of. One cannot expect Hollywood to be the champion of indigenous people's rights or give an honest portrayal of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.