July 29, 2006

Apocalypto soon

After The New World and End of the Spear, the two biggest Native movies of 2006 are likely to be Mel Gibson's Apocalypto and Pathfinder. I've seen the trailer for Apocalypto, a story about the Maya civilization, and it looks...interesting. It may be the richest and most beautiful movie about pre-Columbian Indians ever. But I also get a sense that Gibson, a conservative Christian, will portray the Maya as cruel and superstitious.

Here's a hint of what to expect from Gibson:

More on that Gibson DUI: It's Getting Ugly (Allegedly)
So, you know that Mel Gibson arrest for DUI that went off "without incident"? Well, according to documents obtained by TMZ, that's not entirely accurate. If this handwritten report (link points to a PDF file) by the arresting officer is real, there was was nothing cooperative whatsoever about saintly Gibson. Instead, after allegedly running for his own vehicle when asked to get into the squad car (and subsequently being cuffed), he commenced swearing like a sailor, threatening to "get even" with the cop who was taking him in. In what the officer reported were the actor's own words, revenge would be simple because, as Gibson repeatedly told the arresting officer, he "own[s] Malibu." When that didn't work, Gibson allegedly took the old, reliable anti-Semitic route. Again according to the arresting officer's (alleged) report, the actor went off a tirade, apropos of nothing: "'F*****g Jews ... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.' Gibson then asked the deputy, 'Are you a Jew?'" Boy, nothing but class there, huh?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The belligerence, the profanity, the blaming of some evil Jewish cabal for everything that goes wrong globally and personally: Gibson's quotes are practically interchangable with those of Saddam Hussein.

This comparison would be out of left field if not for the fact that Gibson chose fairly recently to make himself look just like Saddam as well.

I'm looking forward to the endless repeat video footage of someone shining a flashlight in Gibson's mouth during the arrest.

Rob said...

Gibson's arrest is relevant to this blog because he's making films with conservative messages--e.g., Ransom,
The Patriot
, and The Passion of the Christ. I fear Apocalypto will be another of these.

Anonymous said...

I didn't view either of those movies as particularly conservative or even connected to modern politics (once I removed the connection between Gibson's character and the actual historic Swamp Fox). I was going to approach "Apocalypto" with an open mind, even if at this point I know almost nothing about it. Now I don't care about this movie in the least.

Rob said...

Read my writeup on The Patriot for an explanation of the movie's message. Relying on violence is a hallmark of conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Liberals favor their own sort of violence: the violence of the left-wing revolutionary (if a brutal killer quotes Marx, he'll win the hearts of the left), the violence of "business as usual" in the abortion clinic, the violence of the striker against the worker who tries to cross the picket line, and other examples.