The first thing that impressed me in the movie was not the superficial pursuit, nor the deep level of culture, but the Mayan language that I had never heard before. This kind of mixed language with only speech and no text, the dialogue at first sounds as if you are reading classical Chinese. Only words and phrases can express the sentence completely, and the uninfluenced intonation can be compared with any language we are familiar with. Magic. Needless to say, on a deeper level, it is not easy to act in such a strange language, unless the crew can guarantee that there are no Mayan audiences in this film.
Looking at the story in general, it is probably the clue of being attacked-fleeing-counterattack. A hunter village was attacked by a powerful tribe. The captured hunters were taken to a place with stone houses after a long journey. The women were sold and the men were used to make sacrifices. A total solar eclipse that happened to occur rescued the protagonist Jaguar Paw, and he and the remaining prisoners were taken to a training ground next to the cornfield to be executed separately. Is this scene reminiscent of the scene in Yang Suo's famous "Red Army and White Army"? Yes, Jaguar Paw was as smart as the executed Red Army. Although he was hit by an arrow, he still killed the son of the other leader and ran into the cornfield alive. So began a period of commercial pursuit and escape. In the end, Jaguar Paw won.
The name of Apocalypto comes from the curse of a little girl who got smallpox on the long journey away from home. In my opinion, it can be regarded as a relatively poor foreshadowing from the structure of the film's story. . But on the other hand, from the perspective of the Mayan civilization, it's quite different.
If after seeing a thrilling chase in the film, immediately take a look at the behind-the-scenes Becoming Mayan: Create Apocalypto in the DVD, you have to admit the greatness of Gibson: while maximizing the commercial value, it is almost the whole Mayan civilization talks about it. The initial hunting, furrying and drinking blood not only set the stage for the end, but the whole process itself is a line drawing. And this long journey, until the end of the sacrifice, is undoubtedly the most core part of the movie in my opinion, and it is far more valuable than the final pursuit. The technique is very similar to the journey in Apocalypse Now, looking at the entire Mayan class with an indifferent attitude, and showing related things such as epidemics, Mayan pyramids, and the costumes of the characters. A little girl’s curse is also just right. Explains the divination culture in the Mayan civilization. The climax part, that sacrificial offering, is shown in detail. Although the bloody scene was a little palpitating (I was covering my mouth to watch a section anyway), but it is these details that are not only convincing, but also give a feeling of reverence. This is a bit like something, such as A World Without Thieves, who is superb in shooting and stealing. Here you admire thieves. Although it is realizing, you may have just stolen a mobile phone, which is really cruel to them. In such a situation, if I could also call him "Stockholm Syndrome", it is probably a fascination with the director.
There are still many descriptions about beliefs, and I won’t describe the specific details. You can watch the movie and that section, which is very exciting.
There is also a dotted line in the film, which also works on both sides, which is the description of Jaw's wife and son living in the cave. The effect on the story is reminiscent of a movie: "Mo Attack." Do you still remember Ge Li's last expression looking down from the top of the dungeon? It is also the beloved woman who drowned and was saved at the moment. The result is different, because "Mo Attack" has an emotional plot to explain the truth that "love can't be missed", and it doesn't matter here, so the comedy ends.
From the Mayan civilization, another paragraph is particularly important. Jaw’s wife sutures the wound with a small beetle. This is a simple explanation of Maya medicine (Mayan medicine is also seen in the paragraph where the enemy leader bleeds his son to cure swelling. ), it can be proved that in the Mayan civilization, the treatment of external injuries was relatively advanced (compared to infectious diseases such as smallpox and "laughing disease"). We can compare Europe horizontally. At that time, Europe was also a period of frequent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as black rat and febrile disease. They were basically helpless. It can be seen that the Mayan civilization was in sync with the world in medical technology.
Finally, let me talk about an interesting detail. In this movie, people who are close to primitive society actually put half of the responsibility for not having children on men; and the eldest son also seems to have no dignity at all and is controlled by the mother; the number of female nobles Also far more than male nobles. It can be seen that the fairness of Maya men and women at that time was a bit surprising. In other parts of the world at this time, men are absolutely dominant. What is strange is that although the Maya are in a slave society, the status of women is so high. Is this related to the Maya's excessive migration from matrilineal clans?
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