Looking Back: ‘Film’flam and Freedom
December 7th, 2007 by Anindita Sengupta
Come December, the year-end lists start everywhere and I think they’re great fun. In that spirit, this is the first of a series of posts looking back at the year 2007. First, let me point you to Guardian’s list of 2007’s best films. The list includes Sarah Polley’s poignant drama Away From Her , Clint Eastwood’s war film Letter’s from Iwo Jima and John Curran’s very moving love story The Painted Veil, which is a personal favourite as well. I do have one huge nit to pick though. The list includes Apocalypto, Mel Gibson’s over-the-top period film about the downfall of the Mayan civilisation.
In case, you missed the movie, plot details are here. My beef with Apocalypto was not so much in terms of filmmaking technique. Vivid cinematography, nail-biting action including one exciting chase scene involving Jaguar Paw (the man) and a real jaguar, a hero you care about — it’s all there. And if lots of blood and gore and naked people chanting to the sun or tearing out animal innards is your thing, you probably enjoyed it. Although, the Newsweek review did point out that “the relentless pileup of atrocities becomes self-defeating” and “the harder Apocalypto works to shock and excite you, the less shocked and excited you become”, which I tend to agree with.
But what I was really upset about was the one-dimensional representation of an ancient civilization. By all reports, not all Mayan habits were pleasant but Mel Gibson’s portrayal of them as relentlessly and stupidly savage was off the mark. This article by Traci Arden, a scholar of classic Maya society, pointed out many of the things that were wrong with the film.
The fact that this film was made in Mexico and filmed in the Yucatec Maya language coupled with its visual appeal makes it all the more dangerous. It looks authentic; viewers will be captivated by the crazy, exotic mess of the city and the howler monkeys in the jungle. And who really cares that the Maya were not living in cities when the Spanish arrived?…. The message? The end is near and the savior has come. Gibson’s efforts at authenticity of location and language might, for some viewers, mask his blatantly colonial message that the Maya needed saving because they were rotten at the core. Using the decline of Classic urbanism as his backdrop, Gibson communicates that there was absolutely nothing redeemable about Maya culture, especially elite culture which is depicted as a disgusting feast of blood and excess.
More on this here and here. That they did commit certain brutal acts is not in doubt, but which civilisation including modern ones can escape this accusation? You only need to look at what’s happening in Iraq, Darfur, Burma, Pakistan and some parts of India (and this is just a sampling) to realise that the savage instincts of control and violence are still intact. We’ve just become more sophisticated about the methods. The fact that Gibson chose to showcase the brutality of the Mayans in exaggerated technicolour form without any nuances is problematic.
At the time, many reacted to the accusations saying that they did not see anything overtly racist about the film or that “it was just a film” and people should get off their politically correct high horses. The thing is that a lot of the time, racist messaging is clever, subtle, well-packaged or entertaining. None of this takes away from the long-term impact, unfortunately.
The other issue, of course, is creative freedom. This is a hotly debated topic in many parts of the world today with censorship rules and fatwas zipping around our heads and self-appointed moral guardians brandishing swords at the drop of a pen. I, for one, don’t think that legislation has any place in this arena. Because once you lay down laws about what a person can say, write or show, where do you draw the line? Who decides what is more offensive and what is less? Nor does anyone have the right to burn, beat up or generally act like a savage idiot because they don’t agree with something.
At the same time, it is up to artists to exercise some responsibility while delineating between truth and history, fantasy and fiction, fact and opinion. When these lines blur beyond a point, as they tend to when it comes to genres like historical fiction, it is important to be even more careful. After all, these are the records and documents we are leaving behind for future generations. And over time, the truth may be wiped out altogether and replaced by the imaginations of people like Gibson. It is also important to speak up and voice dissent when someone creates something inauthentic. Just to balance the score or set the record straight.
More on the Mayans here and take a look at this video showing the excavation of an ancient Mayan mural in San Bartolo, Guatemala.
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December 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I loved this movie, it was the most exciting and entertaining movie I have seen in a long time, even couldn’t understand much of the dialogue as I was limited to French subtitles. I don’t know anything about history but it seemed very well made to me. Critics love to criticize Mel Gibson because of obvious reasons but his movies are amazing, as least for me. He’s a brilliant director.