A key consultant among several archeologists who served as advisors on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" said he is disappointed that the film overlooks many of the Mayas' cultural and scientific achievements and portrays the people as "bloodthirsty savages." Hey, Europe was savage at one time. Conan the Barbarian didn't own a toothbrush.
As a chase movie, "Apocalypto" is top-notch, said Richard D. Hansen, a professor of anthropology at Idaho State University who has written extensively about the Mayas. The sets, makeup and costumes are also "accurate to the nth degree," he noted. But it's a feature film not a documentary which may let down those looking for accuracy at every turn. "This is Hollywood, first and foremost," Hansen said. Even if it is, I still enjoyed the movie on all levels. Gibson defended family values in "We Were Soldiers," "The Patriot"and "Signs," and he does it again in this film. Somebody always has to whine, and the NYT is better at it than most.
As with any historically based feature, whether it's "Alexander" or "All the President's Men," directors take creative license with the facts. "Apocalypto" is no different. "The final decision when making a film is, 'What is the right balance between historical authenticity and making it exciting, visually as well?' " said Farhad Safinia, who co-wrote the script with Gibson, adding: "The film is an all out entertainment thrill ride, and that is what it was always designed to do. It is a work of fiction."
Gibson and Safinia have said they wanted the film to serve as a reminder to today's world that the precursor to the fall of a civilization is always the same: widespread environmental degradation, excessive consumption and political corruption. What happened to the Mayans mirrors what is happening to Iran's Ayatollahs. What is the difference between Mayans making human sacrifices to appease their tribal gods, and the Ayatollah's martyr indoctrinations? Iran is a decadent society that needs an external push to quicken its internal crumble. But archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. And to watch Gibson's "Apocalypto," one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics. The Egyptians were also advanced, but they spent hundreds of years building pyramid crypts for their god-kings. Slaves who slacked off, were murdered.
"The calendar [angle] is so rich," Hansen said. "It would have been a marvelous part of the story."
Safinia said that the film's narrative is told through the eyes of the central protagonist, Jaguar Paw, and it is his journey that we follow. "You do see aspects of the Mayan civilization in the background," Safinia said, such as their architecture, their industry and their preponderance to ornament themselves with jewelry, costumes, textiles and such. C'mon Mel. Next film: "Ayatollakaputo." But ease up on the Jews.
Actually, there are no skull pyramids pictured in the film. After an Ayatollah stabs a sacrificial victim and yanks out the heart, another Ayatollah cuts the head off and bounces it down the pyramid steps to the cheers of the multitudes. Then the heads are stuck on the end of poles.
#3
Not that it matters much; I guess Gibson has as much right to make up stuff as anyone else. Although there is plenty of evidence that the Aztecs, who came along much later than the Mayans, tore out hearts and such, and even indulged in cannibalism (even first-hand accounts from the Conquistadores), as far as I know there is no evidence whatsoever that the Mayans did likewise. Maybe they did have human sacrifice as did so many cultures around the world. But there's more evidence that the Iranians and the Arabs like cutting off heads and slitting throats than for the Mayans. But then, Mayans, Aztecs, what's the difference, hey?
#4
WG8761:
The movie is worth a look if only to watch the hero risk his life to save his family. I know the reviewers are out for Gibson's blood; but the film engages audiences and isn't a film variation of Al Bore (or Gore) speak as one Eastern conservative said.
#5
"The calendar [angle] is so rich," Hansen said. "It would have been a marvelous part of the story."
Yeah, a calendar-based movie, when the protagonists spend 2h 20 mn going through the minutiae of the said calendar, while sitted in circle around it. What an excitment-filled motion-picture it would be!
#6
A key consultant among several archeologists who served as advisors on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" said he is disappointed that the film overlooks many of the Mayas' cultural and scientific achievements and portrays the people as "bloodthirsty savages."
If you want a cultural documentary watch the History Channel [which sometimes is no better than what Hollyweird would put out]. Otherwise, if western Europeans civilization has to put up with constant portrayals as 'barbarians', it's good enough for everyone else.
#8
Glad to see you finally get it Whomoque Gravimp8761 it's taken you about 510 years. BTW how's that axle thing coming along? Got it yet? No, try again, two wheel, two wheels.
#10
Economist article: Then, as now, maize was the staff of life in Central America. The Maya thought of human beings as in some way made of maize: they distorted babies' soft skulls to make them look like a head of corn. They probably practised cannibalism: for them, it was like eating maize. And in Mayan cosmology there was a maize god who was beheaded every year (like the crop) and reborn in the underworld. But not as maize; rather as a magic tree from which all fruit sprang.
#14
Shipman, 1496? Actually I still don't get it. I understand what everyone else is saying. I just don't understand what you're saying. At least I admit it. Of course I don't understand anything you say except maybe now and then.
Or am I just a moron? Don't be afraid to say yes.
#19
The story is about the end of a civilization. Sure the Mayans were intelligent and advanced in many ways. So are serial killers. Again, the story is about the END, not the PEAK of their civilization. It's not History Channel fare, it's entertainment. Fiction, with an historical base. Like Patriot. Like Michael Moore's stuff--except an accurate portrayal of life in that part of the world at that time. Heck, you could make the same themed movie about a gang warfare situation and a man trying to save his family, and have it set in Los Angeles or Iraq, and it wouldn't be very much different--except for the setting. I'll bet it's terrific and I plan to see it. Go Mel. And yes, some Jews are baddies, just like everyone else. Mel's just a little overboard on that, and when he's shit-faced drunk, his upbringing wacko-ness surfaces. About the same for everyone else, methinks.
#20
Modern scholarship is showing that the Myans indeed participated in bloodthirsty rituals. Early archaeologists like Hiram Bingham created a fanciful portrayal of the Mayans as a perfectly peaceful group living in harmony with the earth and everyone. Further digging has shown a different picture that puctures that balloon.
#25
"Degradation ... Consumption ... Corruption" > See REGNUM.RU = as per the Ultra-Left USSR, even BORIS YELTSIN admits USSR = SOVIET UNION, SSSSSHHHHHHHHH NOT the decadent evil Capitalist Americanskis, twas on the edge of COLLAPSE ANYWAYS, due to unstoppable dynamic INTERNAL FORCES/PRESSURES. Can positively surmise that not even Commie TOTALITARIAN GUBMINT-ARMY STATE WOULD'VE STOPPED IT.
#2
Multiculutralism, particularly the evangelical type like this, has ALREADY failed.
Talking about how to "make it work" by tweaking going forward is like someone talking about how piracy and privateering needs a little modification and it will be a useful tool of state.
Those who do not acknowledge the proven failure of multiculti (and the fundamentalist approach to "celebrating diversity") are among the most reactionary people on the planet today, and the irony is that they believe themselves to be the most "progressive."
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/10/2006 7:16 Comments ||
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#3
Talking about how to "make it work" by tweaking going forward is like someone talking about how piracy and privateering needs a little modification and it will be a useful tool of state.
In fairness, privateering was an excellent tool of state for Elizabeth I. If we started issuing Royal Charters to companies prepared to take and hold, say, Iranian oil-fields and distribution facilities I'd say we could win this thing at no cost to the tax-payer.
#3
Before: Naturally, I did what most average Western girls do. I focused on my appearance and appeal, basing my self-worth on how much attention I got from others.
After:I was delighted with the new looks of wonder on peoples faces . . . I no longer spent all my time consumed with shopping, makeup, getting my hair done, and working out. Finally, I was free.
I told my husband I wanted to wear Niqab. My reason, this time, was that I felt it would be more pleasing to Allah.
She's not any kind of feminist, nor has she changed in any fundamental way. She's a bimbo who depends on others' approval for her self-worth.
To you, the ill-fated corrupting conquerors of civilization, so-called crusaders, I say: BRING IT ON.
Aw, how cute, declaring war on her fellow citizens. Whatever makes you feel important, toots.
#6
For those of us who are not standard sizes, two-piece bathing suits are a necessity. As for this woman, she seems to think that going covered outside the house means she can be sloppy and unkempt for her husband -- what a lovely marriage that must be!
#7
Dumb twit never had the courage or conviction to be her own person back when she had the freedom to do so, then buys hook, line, and sinker into a system that will not let her back out.
Expect the epilogue in two years when she wants her freedom back and hubby and brothers-in-law whack her.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/10/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#8
They make medication and have therapy for this kind of thing. Or give her a few years and maybe she'll figure it out. But it may well be too late by then depending how vulnerable she is.
I swear this religion takes advantage of mental states to guarantee its continued existance.
#9
After reading the article, I'm not sure who wrote it....her owner, oh sorry, husband, or her local imam. I can't imagine any woman writing this kind of crap voluntarily.
#11
SB - After reading the article, I'm not sure who wrote it....her owner, oh sorry, husband, or her local imam. I can't imagine any woman writing this kind of crap voluntarily.
That's the way I read it, too. And it was probably approved by a committee. I find it hard to believe that an American female libertarian activist, former or otherwise, would write such al-Stepford boilerplate.
#12
It's not even an article, it's a sales pitch.
There's not one personal experience within, it's a fill in the blanks screed.
From the midwest, not a state ?
One day I found, not my friend Diane said ?
My fill of eastern religions, not yoga didn't help ? This is straight propaganda, without any personification. It stinkith !
Put under 'Opinion' since it's Novak, and who knows if it's true? By Robert Novak
WASHINGTON -- Zalmay Khalilzad, who was announced this week as leaving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the leading prospect to replace John Bolton as envoy to the United Nations.
President Bush was reported by aides as looking for someone who approximates Bolton's combination of toughness and diplomatic skill and has tentatively decided on Khalilzad. A native of Afghanistan, he has served in government posts dating back to 1985 and is the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush administration. How interesting. Khalilzad would be near bullet-proof in a confirmation hearing; even Dems who wanted to go after Dubya on Iraq wouldn't use Khalilzad to do so. I wonder if he has the acerbic forcefulness of a Bolton or Jeane Kirkpatrick?
A footnote: State Department sources have said Andrew Card, who on April 14 finished five years as White House chief of staff, was interested in the UN post and was a dark horse to get it. However, he never made any such desire known to the president and is not being considered for the UN. Card would be another safe choice; Dems wouldn't get too interested in him. But he'd be an 'insider' and not a bomb-thrower.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Can't help wondering, what if Regan appointed a communist to be USA's UN ambassador?
The United Nations has often failed to live up to its responsibility to promote human rights, with the ongoing killing and displacement of civilians in Darfur only the latest example of how the world has not improved its act, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today as he urged Member States, organizations and individuals to make the protection of rights a reality in every country.
In an address at the Time Warner Centre in New York to mark International Human Rights Day, which is being staged on Sunday, the outgoing Secretary-General said he had tried to make human rights central to all of the world bodys work during his 10 years at the helm.
Refugees poured into the UN compound. But the Dutch peacekeepers (Dutchbat) were overwhelmed and the Serbs confiscated their weapons. From the moment I found those bodies, it was obvious to me that the Bosnian Serbs planned to kill all the men, Rutten said. He watched horrified as Dutch troops guided the men and boys onto the Serb buses.
#3
How can an international community which claims to uphold human rights allow this horror to continue? he asked.
Well, how about the international community ceasing to PRODUCE horror? Might that be a solution? Huh, guys? Hey, I know. Let's start with NOT raping little girls and setting up prostitution camps in exchange for food aid, like you keep doing.
#5
Koffee has been making some rather scathing and pointed criticisms of the UN lately. Would it be rude to point out that he has been in charge all this time?
#8
"The Mafia has often failed to live up to its responsibility to reduce the homicide rate, with the ongoing killing and displacement of kneecaps only the latest example of how the mob has not improved its act," said John Gotti, the "Teflon Don."
Strategic redeployment. Phased drawdown. Exit strategy. However one phrases it, Washington seems to be turning a page in the story of Iraq. The midterm elections, the subsequent resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the release of the Iraq Study Group's report last week all suggest that the transformational objectives that led U.S. forces into Iraq are being supplanted by an unmistakable and bipartisan desire to bring troops home, end this mess and move on.
That impulse, while understandable, reflects the national narcissism that dogs much of U.S. foreign policy. We think Iraq is about us. We made it happen and we can undo it. But one-sided solutions for ending the Iraq war are as unrealistic as the one-sided impulses that started it. Even as we seek to remake history, it is remaking us.
The economic and political forces that drew the United States into Iraq -- quite different from the reasons the Bush administration gave for the invasion -- remain powerful, exerting a pull that will be hard to resist. Oil, of course, is foremost among them. But also important are the threats and tensions linked to oil: Washington's decades-old rivalry with Iran, the growing dangers posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the fear that the Middle East's simmering conflicts will erupt into a broader, bloodier and far more costly war.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/10/2006 11:57 ||
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#1
We gave those assholes a chance for freedom, the chance to make and control their owne destinies. The decided they'd rather loot and murder instead. We overestimated them I guess. They much prefer to kill and bomb and mutilate than work on making a unity government
#3
However, many conservative post-election analyses continue to evade the War as the primary culprit for the electoral debacle. For example, S.T. Karnick writing for National Review Online pointed the finger at the Republicans' abandonment of "classical liberalism":
The Right lost because the Republicans failed to govern as classical liberals. Instead, in the economic sphere they ran up huge, unnecessary budget deficits attributable solely to massive spending increases. Small government went out the window as the Republicans massively increased federal control over elementary and secondary schools and passed numerous constraints on political freedom in the Homeland Security Act and the McCain-Feingold restrictions on political speech. -- S.T. Karnick, New Age Conservatism: Election Day was a big loss for classical liberalism.
Though he later acknowledged that the Iraq War was an issue because "Republicans failed to get it done in Iraq and stood idly by while Iran and North Korea worked to develop nuclear weapons," this assessment comes late in his article. It also ignores one salient point: How exactly do we define victory, much less achieve victory in a place where the enemy is not radical Jihad, but a number of disparate groupings of Sunnis, Shiites, Baathist secularists, unemployed and disgruntled military men, criminal gangs, foreign Jihadist and home-grown Al-Qaeda terrorists all wanting a piece of us and mostly each other? There can be little doubt that since (and perhaps since before) the bombing last February of the Mosque of the Two Holy Imams in Samarra, Iraq is slowly spiraling toward civil war. A series of horrible bombings only seem to be proceeded by even worse attacks. A U.N. report cites a figure of 1,000 Iraqis fleeing their homes daily largely due to terror from militias and criminal gangs. Another UN study claims 3,709 Iraqis were killed by violence in the month of October, thus reaching a numerical figure that puts Iraq within the projected monthly death toll (4,000) of a full-fledged civil war. Noticeably absent is any reference to Islamist terrorists. In other words, our military now is stuck between sectarian factions made up of ingrates that reject the gift of liberty and instead embrace centuries's old clan, ethnic, tribal, and religious animosities.
#4
In other words, our military now is stuck between sectarian factions made up of ingrates that reject the gift of liberty and instead embrace centuries's old clan, ethnic, tribal, and religious animosities.
In other words, it's time to get truly Medieval all over their pathetic Muslim asses. No more Mister Nice Guy ... EVER. Break things, examine rebuilt systems, break again as needed. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum.
#5
This is worth the read for the history lesson. However, due to internal political presure US troops have to be taken out of the fight soon. Otherwise, Congress will limit war fighting funds. Bush made a giant tactical error when he sent troops back into Baghdad prior to elections. Things were sort of on simmer, then he threw gasoline onto fire. Now troop retraction out of danger zones will be needed soon. As for author's contention that we'll be back. Not the same way, I think. This pause is needed for some sober thinking. I agree with Grom, the next round will be fought at distance, with no real combatant troops. I think we'll go after strategic targets we've seen and identiified in Iran. If they have populations on top of them, they'll be sacrificed this time. If this still doesn't stop them, I think we'll attack with unrestrained ferocity. This will quiet the ummah for some time when they see millions of fried turbans and see that there will be no more restrictions.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
But archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. And to watch Gibson's "Apocalypto," one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics.
