Posted on 12/10/2006 9:41:43 AM PST by kinghorse
First off let me state I haven't yet seen Apocalypto, but knowing what I know of Mr. Gibson's sensibilities, I expect it to be a rather rude departure from political correctness regarding non-western culture. And, being a cultured western male, I applaud this. The insinuations are prime to survival and subject for honest debate in the current situation in the ME and more specifically Iraq and Lebanon. I thought about all of this while listening to Cookie and Zachie and the inestimable Mr. George Will debate the ways and means of surrender in Iraq on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. This was after enduring the grinning moron that is Joe Biden rub his hands with glee while a ranking Republican laid out all the reasons why we need to abandon the Green Zone in Iraq.
Why bring up Apocalypto? It shows the cruelty that exists in the heart of man, the animal, not the divine creature. Western thought gave meaning and reason to divinity as a justification for imposing change. When the Europeans first met indigenous people at Plymouth, there was an exchange of food as a celebration and giving of thanks. Ultimately, the indigenous culture's inability to accept reason and logic as the guiding principle in their lives was their undoing. What we are witnessing in Iraq is but another example of a culture's inability to accept logic and reason as a guiding principle in their lives.
George Will, God Bless This Man's Soul, laid it out so clearly when he explained the abject stupidity of the premise behind the Baker Report. And this is what he said. The Baker Report states that a solution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict will solve the problems of Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. Then Mr. Will illustrated this stupidity. He gave the example of a Shiite or Sunni hit squad going out on their morning run to kill their neighbors when they hear over the radio that peace has been achieved in the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The squad leader then announces they stop the hit and all go home and become good proper citizens. I almost fell out of my chair! But he wasn't finished. Next Mr. Will rightfully asked what makes anyone think Iran or Syria want to help stabilize Iraq when Baker's main tenet assumes a new cooperation.
When irrational people are presented with the agent of change, predictable results will follow. The rational process we will follow by adhering to our democratic principles of open debate, consensus building and compromise will inevitably alter the policy to more properly respond to conditions in the region. If we fall back or stay, the calculus doesn't change much. It's going to be violent and chaotic. President Bush should be commended for keeping the faith with western rational thought and being an agent for change where change is needed. In the end, rationality must prevail over irrationality. Our kids even get it better than some of these so called leaders. My son came home last night after viewing the film Munich and needed to be calmed down about things. I tell you, there's a resurgence and pride among our youth regarding our culture's rationality and civility that shouldn't be discounted. Mel's Gibson's Apocalypto is the latest example of this belief and the need to defend and promote, for lack of a better word, a divine way. Or maybe it is just that I hope for this. But I see it rising and I see good things for America. And yes it's a big tent and everyone is part of this. Race or nationality doesn't preclude being a part of this resurgence of pride in who we are and what we represent. Sadly, I can't see much of it in the generation of people leading us today (President Bush excluded).
Apocalypto is the Spanish word for Apocalypse--which in the original Greek means "I reveal" as in St John the Apostle who wrote the Book of Revelation...and all that entails.
Mel has reasons for naming it after the divine book of the Holy Bible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation
What has that got to do with a perfectly good insult?
Everything about this movie worked. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A tremendous achievement. Raves, raves, raves. I applaud Mel for making this film. The characters were distinctive and sympathetic. Great writing.
One gratuitous "f" word in the English translation was my only beef, used in the context that "his goose is cooked". It got a cheap laugh from the audience.
ping for your consideration.
"Generally speaking, people are stupid."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I am 59 and feel that people are generally smart. See my tag.
First, let me say that neither one of us takes the "stupid" thing too seriously. And I do agree in principle with your tagline. I guess it comes down to one's relative ability to control the types of people you must interact with on a daily basis. In some lines of work, it's tougher than in others.
By the way, it's veering off a little, but in President Bush's press conference the day after the Republicans lost the election, the press were, as usual, trying to get Bush to denigrate his performance and apologize for living, and he prefaced his reply with, "In this line of work..." That gave me such a chuckle. Like it was any other line of work...
Sounds like a great film.
One quibble: what is in the heart of man and produces such cruelty is not his "animal' nature --animals seldom are cruel--but the sin that resides there, easting away at its vitality until it kills us. Sin--which is separation from God--can turn us,as it were. into incarnate demons.
Fair enough. Two words. Saint Mel.
Why let someone else tell you how to think. See for yourself and decide. It's the polar opposite of chiding Bush. It validates Bush.
Oh wait, I got your drift in the last 2 words. Still go see it. It's a beautiful vindication of western morality as unequivocable morality.
Of course you are right. I just don't want to contribute to the Bush Bashing Craze. It is as if he is the real enemy and not the Islamofacists.
Besides, I think my wife and I want to see the Nativity Story together instead.
Thanks for the advise.
The whole concept of stability is a concept of death.It's part of my problem with the Bambi concept of natural history, where everything is beautiful and cute and benign. It's not the world. The world isn't like that at all.
You're either 'prey, you're an 'enemy', or you're 'ignored'.
Now think about all the islands. Island wildlife was wiped out because people could walk up to them with a stick and hit it on the head because it's much easier to kill something that doesn't see you as an enemy. By the time they realized it, they were extinct.
Ray Mendez, mole rat specialist, quoted from the documenty Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control (1997)
I see a lot of influences in "Apocalypto" - Gladiator, the first Conan the Barbarian film, Quest for Fire. I personally wondered if the entire film was Mel's metaphor about the decline of our corrupt, decaying American culture that refuses to honor the life of the unborn, but that's just my underlying impression.
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