Apocalypto, which emphasizes the barbarity of late Mayan culture at the expense of its accomplishments in the sciences, written language, and city-building, is rife with assaults on the body – be they the tearing out of a living heart from a human sacrifice or the image of an animal impaled on the many sharp prongs of a hunter's trap.
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Whereas 2,000 years of Christian-era storytelling had prepared us for the ferocity of the injuries inflicted on Jesus Christ, we were not prepared for Gibson's near-pornographic obsession with the fleshy details of their depiction. Only now, after the graphic displays of extreme physical torture in Apocalypto and The Passion of the Christ, can we really notice Gibson's fixation on the scarification of the flesh in his two earlier films, Braveheart and The Man Without a Face. This is the theme that forms the consistent thread in his work and will prove more revealing than any scrutiny for sexism, Jew-baiting, and whatnot. With his fourth feature film as a director, Mel Gibson continues his (probably unintentional) study of the mortification of the flesh through the ages. The films Gibson has directed demonstrate an increasingly deft understanding of epic scope, narrative mechanics, and visceral response.
![mel gibson apocalypto mel gibson apocalypto](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41tA61dUI1L._AC_SY445_.jpg)
One conclusion, however, is undeniable: He's a powerfully effective filmmaker. Think and say what you will about the beliefs and actions of Mel Gibson.