apocalypto

Had a boys day out recently to see Apocalypto (mel gibson's latest). Expected a fair bit of gore (got lots more than I needed) but also expected (and didn't get) a lot more of story around their obsession with "the gods". I guess my bias was the books I've read on ancient civilisations etc. so I was quite disappointed at half the movie being just about a random "rambo" hunt for the protagonist. First half was really interesting since it gave insight on what daily life was like in those days. Reminded me of "Curse of the golden flower" which also transported us into daily lives in Beijing several centuries ago - weak storyline right out of a ZEE tv soap I thought.

Got me thinking that Mel Gibson will be my one link to history - my fascination of knowing what daily life was like "back then" is coming alive through his movies like passion and apocalypto - they speak in the ancient languages and the scripts/dialogue etc. are very realistic & (i guess) representative. Now I want him to make something on Egypt, The rise of protestants and subsequent religious warfare in Europe, the industrial revolution in England ala Hugo, the battles for Jerusalem and Marco Polo !