January 16, 2008

Mel Gibson = Leni Riefenstahl

Gibson's Passion of the Mayans is Part Action, Part PropagandaGreat direction need not be in the service of either truth or entertainment. Leni Riefenstahl will be remembered as one of the greatest directors of all time, but Triumph of the Will was no popcorn classic. It was a love note to Hitler and the boys. Coming off of a one-two punch of ethnic insensitivity, in The Passion of the Christ, and his explicit antisemitic rant, the last thing Gibson needs is to mix popcorn and politics.

Yet that's exactly what Apocalypto seems to do. It opens with a quote from Will Durant, that no civilization is conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. That's the kind of heavy-handed statement that screams, "Sermon!" Is Gibson using his tale to call the rest of us to repentance? It sure looks like it.

But then Mel tries to have it both ways. His story, set during the period of the Mayans, shows a small, peaceful tribe, tucked in the rainforest, ravaged by Mayan warriors, bent on taking men back to be sacrificed to their god, Kulkulcan. What follows is a fairly brutal, gory, wrenching laundry list of atrocities--Abu Ghraib with nachos. It's ugly. It's mean-spirited. It's hard to blow off as just another Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

And yet, Gibson's facts are grossly misleading. The Mayans were farmers. They didn't live in the rainforest. They didn't live off of primitive hunting. They were astronomers, mathematicians, innovators in writing, art and architecture. Their god, Kulkulcan, was a white, bearded god associated with peace, farming and the resurrection. Sound like anyone you've heard of?
The point of Gibson's propaganda:That Gibson would want to jazz up the action in an action-adventure is fine. But pretentious sermonizing, mixed with the faux-realism of native actors speaking in Mayan, while presenting the Mayans as barbarians fit to be conquered, pushes past popcorn and straight into propaganda.

That's when we wonder what Gibson is really up to. It's no secret that he wears his cross to the right of the Pope. Could he be trying to say that the Spanish Conquest of America was an act of liberation? What better way to make the case that Cortes and company were a 16th-century Seventh Army than to equate Mayan civilization with the death camps of the Holocaust?

In doing so, Apocalypto seems to be saying that one of Catholicism's most shameful moments--in granting approval to conquest and enslavement of indigenous peoples--was really an act of charity. For all its action-based spills and thrills--and this film has more than its share--that's still a pretty offensive message, maybe even as offensive as suggesting that the Jews were to blame for the Roman execution of Christ.

Whatever the case, in the absence of a Mayan version of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, Mel Gibson may have finally found a group he can malign with impunity.
Comment:  I'm glad someone noticed that Gibson opened Apocalypto with a heavy-handed message.

Gibson can't malign Indians with impunity as long as some of us are here to correct the record.

For more on the story, see Apocalypto Now.

7 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Wow! What heavy-handed 'analysis!' APOCALYPTO more was Mel's parable about modern-day America, where powers-that-have-become freely are impressing ineluctable will upon their own powerless peoples and sacrificing them for arcane and possibly unknowable agenda. The gates then are left ajar for any and all who would come through for purposes of attack and/or conquest. Witness that Bush has drained this nation's manpower and resources through nearly seven years of specious wars, with 'globalization' now boldly walking wolflike past the doors of the US economy. Seems the analysts of APOCALYPTO only are looking at the film's content and even have missed the significance of its TITLE!!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Anonymous said...

Methinks the author of the article needs a valium chased by a vodka tonic. Take a breath, please. It's a movie for Chrissake and the comparison to Hitler's propoganda machine is almost as hackneyed as it is patently stupid.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Great comparison, Carole, only it seems more likely that the article's author took Valium AND several vodka tonics, THEN wrote the article! Quick, let's compare the writing style with Rob's, then check both his liquor cabinet and his medicine chest...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Riefenstahl's propaganda pieces were "only" movies too, so the comparison holds.

If you don't like the comparison to Riefenstahl's propaganda, whose propaganda would you prefer to compare Apocalypto to? Bush's? Name someone and then we'll discuss it.

If you think propaganda is harmless...wow, how naive can you get? I suppose you think no one ever bought something or voted for someone based on images they saw on a screen? If so, I have a bridge for sale...cheap!

Rob said...

I think we discussed the significance of Apocalypto's title in previous postings. The writer was under no obligation to fit it into his thesis.

At least the writer didn't miss the explicit message that introduced the movie, Russ. Too bad you can't say the same.

P.S. I don't have a liquor cabinet or a medicine chest with medicine in it. How about you, Russ? There must be some explanation for your not-infrequent mistakes.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Now we all know what Rob will have inscribed on his tombstone: MEL GIBSON SUCKS! Truly, it will be his last words on the subject
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Wrong again, Russ. I acknowledge that Gibson is a talented filmmaker. In fact, I acknowledged it in my first summation of Apocalypto in Indian Comics Irregular #148.

As I often do, I listed the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the film. In other words, I offered an "admixture" of opinions. This is true even though you've foolishly claimed I don't offer an admixture of opinions--that I only condemn works.

Since you're too lazy to click on a link and verify it for yourself, here's the opening opinion in my summation:

In truth, it's an engrossing, endlessly moving, action film, made more enthralling by its exotic time and locales, and by the realistic portrayals of a cast entirely made up of Mexican and North American Indians. (Gannett News Service, 12/8/06)