Apocalypto

The Plot is a little complex so I am going to dumb it down a lot. A weak peaceful Mayan Village gets captured and slaughtered by a stronger tribe which is also Mayan. Because of incredible, believable circumstances, one of the peaceful Mynas escapes a horrible death, and runs home to save his wife whom he hid while his village was under attack.

How many movies have we seen about WWII or the concentration camps or Baseball or People looking for lost treasure somewhere? In terms of story, plot and setting, this movie is totally unique.

From a film standpoint, everything in this film was difficult nothing was easy. Dealing with a civilization that hasn't existed in that form for over 350 years, to doing it with a dead language which less then 20,000 people in the world speak. Mel took on the hardest possible obstacles and he nails each one perfectly, flawlessly. (On a side note, the last time Hollywood took on the subject of the Mayan Civilization was in 1963 Yul Brynner with “Kings of the Sun”).

Lets talk about genius of the casting. By putting no one famous in this movie you force the audience to focus in on the story, the plot the setting. But more then any of that, Mel pushed himself as a director because he didn't have any star power to lean on.

I want to say a few words to the critiques who hated this film, I am talking about Rex Reed of the New York Observer, Richard Schichel of Time Magazine and David Ansen of Newsweek. I have a hard time with your reviews, and I am convinced the reason these guys trashed the film isn't because it wasn't a good movie it is because they don't like Mel as a person and that reason alone makes them horrible movie critics.

To sum it all up let me just say this:

The film is incredibly powerful, incredibly bloody and very deep. I believe it is in the top 20 films I have ever seen.

With that being said, I give this movie 5 Persian Carpets