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Apocalypto | 2006 | R | - 5.9.5

As the Mayan empire is facing decline, before the conquistadors arrived, a young man (Rudy Youngblood) manages to hide his wife and son from an attack on his village, but he is captured and slated to be a human sacrifice. When he manages to escape, he must survive all manner of challenges while he tries to get back to save his family. Also with Dalia Hernandez, Mayra Serbulo, Gerardo Taracena and Raoul Trujillo. Directed by Mel Gibson. In Yucatec Maya with English subtitles. [2:17]

SEX/NUDITY 5 - A man and a woman scream from inside a hut, they run out, the man holds his genitals (his bare buttocks are visible and the woman's bare breasts are seen), and the woman gags and gasps -- a man had given the man a leaf to rub on his genitals saying that it would help him father a child but it apparently burned when applied.
 The native costumes for men are loincloth type bottoms that reveal bare buttocks and bare chests and several women are shown bare-breasted. We see several women with bare breasts and a couple have children nursing.
 During an attack, women are pawed and carried away by men and it is implied that they are raped.
 Men and women dance together.
 The testicles are removed from a dead pig and a man is intimidated into trying to eat them while being ridiculed about not being able to father a child.

VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - A man is forced to lie back on a large stone, he is held, a man cuts his chest open and pulls out his heart (we see the bloody organ and the lifeless man); the man then cuts his head off and throws it down a tall set of stairs, and then the body is thrown down the stairs too (blood spurts from the neck wound). Another man is killed in the same way, his heart is pulled out, the man gags and twitches (we see a lot of blood), and his head is lopped off with a crunch and thrown down the stairs.
 Many men move into a village and begin to attack: men are tied by the hands and feet, dwellings are burned, men fight by striking each other with large clubs and with spears (we see dead bodies with blood on them on the ground), women are pulled away (it is implied that they are raped, and one woman who is dragged by two men bites one on the finger), a man pulls a knife and nearly cuts another man, a man's throat is slit (blood pours from the wound and the man collapses to his knees), and an infant is grabbed and held by the leg.
 A man is attacked by a panther, which clamps its jaws around his face and gnashes; the man screams and struggles (the man's jaw breaks and we hear tearing), while other men stab the panther with spears and strike it with clubs until it is dead (we see its bloody head and the man's bloody head, with his torn face).
 Two men run, trying to get away from their captors and one is struck through the back of the head with a spear (the spear point pushes through his mouth with a crunch and with blood) and another man is speared in the side.
 A dismembered head is thrown down a tall flight of stairs (we see blood-stained stairs where many heads had rolled before) and a large crowd below cheers; another head is thrown down the stairs and the crowd chants.
 Two men charge toward each other, they fight with large clubs, one is struck and blood spurts from a head wound, and one is impaled by stakes through the abdomen (we see a blood-soaked stake poking out of his back). A man beats a man in the head until he is dead.
 Two men run away from men who have held them captive, the men shoot arrows, throw spears and stones at them as they run, and one man is struck hard on the head with a stone (blood spurts) and the other is speared through the back (we see blood and he falls and gasps). Two men wrestle over a knife, and one is stabbed in the throat and he bleeds profusely and dies.
 A man dreams of holding his own heart in his hand (we see him holding the bloody organ in his hand and a large gaping wound on his chest). A man being chased tumbles into a ditch where there are many decapitated bodies in varying stages of decay, some with open wounds. Men walk past many heads on stakes. A man cuts a bruise on another man's eye to reduce the swelling (we see and hear the cut and blood pours down his face). A man cuts his own hand with a knife and dribbles blood on the ground.
 A boy's foot is bloody after having been struck by a large rock, and a woman uses the pincers of ants to close the cut (the boy cries and we hear squishing as each one is attached).
 A man is shot in the back and neck with tines that have been dipped in the venom of a frog (the man collapses and dies). A man stabs a man in the chest and throws him over a high waterfall. A man is shoved over a high ledge to his death (we see the body crashing into tree limbs on the way down).
 A man throws a hornets' nest at several men, they are stung repeatedly, they panic and run (we see a few men with large welts from the stings). A man falls into a puddle of quicksand, he sinks under the surface, and then pulls himself out gagging and gasping.
 Several men with spears chase wild pigs through a thick forest until one pig trips a cord that releases pointed stakes, that impale it (we see the blood-covered points sticking out of the side of the pig, it twitches and squeals, and one man cuts its throat and the men pull it off the spikes).
 A man jumps over a large waterfall, other men follow and one strikes his head on a rock and dies. A man collapses and gags while being forced to walk with a severe wound on his side, and another man is struck repeatedly with a club as he tries to help the man stand up. Men and women are bound, tied around the neck to a pole and forced to walk (one man has a large bloody wound on his side).
 A man butchers a recently killed wild pig (we see the man pulling out several organs including the heart) and he removes its testicles, hands them to another man who bites into them, liquid squirts, and the man gags and spits. A man is bitten on the neck by a snake, he begins to suffer from the venom, and he slices his arm with a knife (we see blood).
 Several men with arrows and spears shoot at a man as he runs away, and he is nearly struck a few times. A man trips and falls over a ledge pulling several other men to whom he is tethered close to the edge also; they struggle to regain their footing and they do so. A woman tries to pull herself out of a cave, the rope she uses breaks free and she falls to the ground (we hear a crunch but she is OK). A pregnant woman and a child are lowered into a cave, and at a certain point they are dropped when the man lowering them is attacked (they are not injured).
 A man climbs into a fallen tree to hide from men chasing him, a panther cub snarls at him, the mother panther snarls at him, and the man runs and the panther chases him. Two monkeys fight: one falls wounded into a cave where a woman and her young son hide, and the woman pounds the monkey to death after it lunges at them.
 A woman goes into labor as the cave she hides in fills with water, she pushes and the baby is born under water (we see a cloud of bloody water as the baby emerges and the umbilical cord is visible).
 We see wall paintings of people being tortured and killed (decapitations are shown and blood spurting from necks).
 Children cry and several follow as their parents are taken away by other men and when they reach a fast moving river the children are left behind to fend for themselves. A girl grieves over her dead mother's body, the girl has sores on her face and we are told that she "has the sickness" (people passing by appear to be afraid of her). Children fight over a piece of meat.
 Many people walk quietly through a jungle, some are bloodstained, and others look very frightened. People are frightened by an eclipse (they scream and cower).
 Several women are sold at an auction. We see many people being forced to mine what appears to be gypsum.
 An enormous tree is felled and it nearly crushes people as they walk nearby. A man chants and has a seizure, thrashing about.
 A girl tells several people about an "apocalypse" and predicts doom. An emaciated man pleads for a man to save him. A man talks of his "land being ravaged." A woman yells at and punches a man for not fathering a grandchild for her.
 A man and a woman scream from inside a hut, they run out, the man holds his genitals, and the woman gags and gasps (a man had given the man a leaf to rub on his genitals saying that it would help him father a child but it apparently burned when applied).
 Men have piercings, engravings and tattoos on their bodies.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (oaf, dogs).

SUBSTANCE USE - None.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Civilization, lack of civilization, definition of civilization, destruction from within civilizations, brutality, strength, pride, fear, shame, cowardice, greed, the plague, sickness, weakness, love, family, fear of the unknown, destiny, chosen people, omens, superstition.

MESSAGE - All civilizations eventually destroy themselves. Humans are particularly brutal and sadistic creatures.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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