"Apocalypse": Kill Hollywood in Hollywood's way

Dejah 2021-10-20 17:23:24

500 years ago, on the eve of the creation of Columbus, the Maya, the indigenous inhabitants of South America, were on the verge of extinction after creating the glory of Maya civilization. The story of "Apocalypse" took place at this time, roughly equivalent to the year 1500 of the AD. The beginning of the film says that the destruction of a great civilization can only come from within.

Mel Gibson is a typical Hollywood director, but his uniqueness is that his vision is more perverse, his heart is more impulsive, and he is more paranoid about Hollywood's adherence to the grotesque. Wallace was taken to the guillotine and Jesus was tied to the cross. It seemed that he would not be able to obtain spiritual detachment and rebirth without suffering the extreme suffering of the flesh.

The sharpness of "Apocalypse" is first manifested in the bloody shots. It starts with a scene of hunting tapirs (a species of wild boar). The picture is primitive and vigorous and extremely clean. The side-by-side spikes pierce the tapir's body. The tiger's claws and friends tear the tapir meat, swallow eggs, and laugh wildly. . From this moment on, the film has never stopped the rendering of individual violence. The javelin pierced the body, the poisonous snake bit the throat, the black panther shredded the human face, and the personal suffering once again reached the limit of the viewer's endurance.

However, Mel Gibson is no longer satisfied with harming individuals, this time he wants to make the entire civilization suffer. He uses his images to explain the bizarre disappearance of the Mayan civilization, and then to ponder the fate of all mankind. The realization of this ambition is Mel Gibson's philosophical deconstruction of Hollywood with the most Hollywood narrative model (like a popular drama).

So there was a beating heart that was cut off on a high pyramid like a revolving lantern. Countless heads and decapitated corpses rolled down the tower, and the dark purple blood stains covered with steps made people smell death. Extremely appearing in the scene of the dead pile full of black corpses, the viewer's experience is even beyond fear, producing an unrealistic and absurd meaning. Plagues, infighting, rotten killings, and even loss of fertility are all evidence and allegories of the demise of Mayan civilization.

Under the heroic face of a Hollywood model, Mel Gibson has profound thinking like a philosopher and an unruly soul like a madman. Therefore, it is inevitable that the image and surface layer of the film cannot be separated from the golden routine of Hollywood. This is why many people see this film as an inspirational film. People can't forget Wallace's arms raised, and they seem to see their blood boiled in the escape of tiger claws.

However, the escape of Tiger Claw is no longer purely personal will, but a destiny deliberate arrangement. The sudden solar eclipse ended the bloody sacrifice and allowed the tiger claws on the guillotine to escape deadly; the brothers of the same race gave their lives to save the tiger claws, which made it possible for the tiger claws to escape into the forest; in the game of chasing and being chased Fortunately, the elements of luck cannot be ignored, such as the one of the Feishen Waterfall, such as the hunting gear that has been set up a long time ago. Although, Hu Claw's love for his wife and children, the encouragement from his father, and the will to escape are still respectable.

It's not difficult to see through the surface, but what is the true meaning of Mel Gibson? In my opinion, Gibson is on the way to the future of Hollywood, practicing his own perception. That is, to surpass Hollywood in the most Hollywood way. The film’s image and representational meanings pay tribute to the classic Hollywood model: the salvation of the will, the victory of the weak, and the inspirational meaning. However, penetrating the appearance, we can see that the bloody B-level film style, the nonsensical nature of cult movies, the mystery brought by the distant civilization, meaninglessness is the essence of postmodern movies.

The exaggerated tattoos of the Maya, the crazy slaughter on the blood-stained pyramid, the thrilling flight of the road, the piercing eyes of the black panther, the white of the slaves chiseling lime, and the faint of the original misty green, this carnival The style of visual violence is also an instigation and subversion of modern civilization and collective unconsciousness.

Through this film, Mel Gibson expressed his thoughts on human civilization, and by the way provided an alternative outlet for Hollywood movies. The clean and compact layout of violence, the progressive digging and deepening of human nature, behind all the means and expressions, the director is not trying to be innovative, but honestly sticking to the rules of Hollywood movies, but he has brought in Kind of a new realm.

The two-tiered meaning of Hollywood is full of endings, and Tiger Claw’s wife gives birth in the water, which means it is obvious; Faced with the arrival of the ship representing modern civilization, Tiger Claw chose to leave. However, in my opinion, this reflects the director's ability to surpass Hollywood in deep thinking. It's not that this kind of ending is bad, it's just that too many people will misunderstand the director's intentions.

The fact is that the departure of tiger claws may not be the beginning of happiness, but more likely the beginning of suffering. History seems to have proved this. The birth of a baby is not so much the Maya's hope for race and civilization as it is an ambiguous prediction of human civilization, because who can be sure that the birth of this baby must point to a new birth? Humans are always self-righteous.

View more about Apocalypto reviews

Extended Reading
  • Ibrahim 2022-03-24 09:01:21

    Although I guessed the ending, it was still shocking. 2014.8.26 Penglai

  • Hilda 2021-10-20 19:02:25

    It's too bloody but it's so pretty

Apocalypto quotes

  • Flint Sky: Those people in the forest, what did you see on them?

    Jaguar Paw: I do not understand.

    Flint Sky: Fear. Deep rotting fear. They were infected by it. Did you see? Fear is a sickness. It will crawl into the soul of anyone who engages it. It has tainted your peace already. I did not raise you to see you live with fear. Strike it from your heart. Do not bring it into our village.

  • [first lines]

    title card: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." W. Durant