Apocalypto is a beautiful, interesting, entertaining movie. It’s also disgustingly brutal. If you can stomach the gore, along with Mel Gibson’s heavy-handed symbolism and mildly offensive religious views, the film is well worth watching.

Jaguar Paw is a young hunter poised to become leader of his tribe. He has a pretty wife, a healthy son, and a new baby on the way. When his village is attacked by a neighboring tribe, he hides his wife and son in a nearby well, and returns to fight. He is captured and taken to a Mayan city, where the king performs sacrifices to appease the gods. Heads are chopped off and bodies roll down the face of the pyramids. There is a giant stack of corpses, as if the sacrifices numbered hundreds of victims per day.

Jaguar Paw is saved from being butchered by a twist of fate. A solar eclipse signals that the gods are satisfied. So he’s dragged to a ball field and told to run, just for a bit of sport. Despite taking an arrow to the side, he manages to escape. More violent stuff happens in the jungle. If you like crushed skulls and spurting blood, this part is awesome!

Meanwhile, Jaguar Paw’s wife is having a baby in the well. And it’s raining.

Jaguar Paw stumbles onto a beach, and the chase comes to a grinding halt. There are huge ships in the distance, carrying Spaniards. Uh-oh! Now the natives have a bigger problem to worry about, so they let Jaguar Paw go. He saves his wife and children, and they flee into the jungle, away from the new invaders. The End.

Besides the violence, which was so overdone it was gag-inducing and absurd, the movie’s basic premise is kind of offensive. There’s a quote at the opening, something about “a people can’t be conquered from outside unless they are already corrupt within.” And the movie’s tagline is “NO ONE CAN OUTRUN THEIR DESTINY.”

I took this to mean that the Mayan civilization was doomed, the people were destined to be conquered, and Christianity (in the form of colonizing Europeans) saved them from their savage, bloodthirsty, war-mongering selves.

But maybe I’m reading too much into it. My husband, who has a fair amount of native Mexican blood, wasn’t bothered by the “savage” stereotypes. He was too busy cheering for Jaguar Paw to kill all those other dudes!

On a more positive note, the film is visually stunning, fast-paced, and engaging. The cultural details seem painstakingly researched. The men were fierce warriors, and the people did sacrifice captives in a public forum. The depiction might be exaggerated, but it isn’t inaccurate. Also, the acting is excellent. Few words are spoken–and none in English. Props to Mel Gibson for that. Rudy Youngblood, who plays Jaguar Paw, communicates everything through body language and facial expressions. We root for him and care about his family. The character transcends stereotypes because we experience his struggles and feel his emotions.

Mel Gibson might be an ass, but Apocalypto is still a pretty good movie. B+