Revelations, the Maya, and Mel Gibson

The cat’s out of the bag. The question for Mel Gibson, whose new film “Apocalypto” is due out before the end of the year, was always “Why make a movie in an obscure dead language about an ancient kingdom and run the risk of box office failure, or worse?” No, we’re not talking about the Amharic version of the last day of Jesus’ life, “The Passion of the Christ”, but a movie set in the mists of pre-Columbian time in Central America, a movie whose dialog is all in reconstructed Mayan. Ironically, the answer is pretty much the same for Apocalypto as it was for The Passion: Gibson is a believer, and he’s bringing the message of spiritual end-times to the multiplexes in a vainglorious effort to conflate the Book of Revelations with the Popul Vuh. (Read this recent MSNBC story.)

Such audacity is on the one had to be commended, on the other somewhat laughable. The sad thing is, it’ll probably work – or would have had not Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant upon being arrested for drunk driving not confused the issue. Although, truth to tell, it’s probably the drunkenness more than the anti-Semitism that will cut into his audience for “Apocalypto.” His previous film “The Passion” attracted criticism for its portrayal of the rabbis of Jerusalem as the parties responsible for Jesus’s crucifixion; it’s no surprise that a drunken tirade would reveal a suspicion if not hatred of Jews.

There are no Jews in “Apocalypto,” at least not overtly. (Full disclosure: I have not seen Apocalypto yet, which is set for release in the Christmas season [!], nor did I see “The Passion,” though I did think “Road Warrior” was really cool. And no, I’m not a Jew, either.) There can’t be for a movie set in Central America 600 years ago, since the first Jew to come to the New World was probably Columbus himself.

But enough digression. Here’s the deal: “Apocalypto” is a thinly veiled saga of the “end-times,” as fundamentalists like to call the age we live in, and Gibson hopes to build big box office numbers and spread his paranoid message of the coming apocalypse by linking John the Revelator with the ancient Mayan calendar, which is due to run out in 2012. (There’s a plethora, a veritable plethora, of web sites on the topic – just do a Google search.)

Fact of the matter is, 2012 is the new 2000, or perhaps 2001 – whichever millennial fantasy caught your fancy. Get ready for the yet another onslaught of cosmic paranoia from the religious right, the middle earthers, and the drug-addled (see the feature in the Aug. 21, 2006 issue of Rolling Stone on the “psychedelic revival,” not available online).

Such was the furthest thought from my mind when I heard of an upcoming movie about the Maya, that mysterious Central American culture which is a source of much speculation, and recent discovery. I went to Mayadom first in 1978, to report for Adventure Travel magazine on the Usumacinta River. I went again 13 years later, in 1991; I guess I’ve got time for one more trip before 2012, and I hope to the largest Mayan site, Mirador in the coming months, and possibly painted tombs of San Bartolo.

So I thought the movie would be cool – and it still may be – but it’s not without subtext. Just seeing the trailer for Apocalypto reveals its Revelationary roots. “When the end comes,” the titles read, “not everyone is ready to go.” This pronouncement is followed by a rapid-fire montage of personal, social and cosmic catastrophe, in the midst of which the quick-eyed can spot a bearded Gibson smoking a hand-rolled as he’s draped around his white-as-ghost extras.

As Gibson himself notes, “I just wanna draw the parallels…I just looked at it, and thought, we display that stuff here. I don’t wanna be a doomsayer, but the Mayan calendar ends in 2012,” he chuckled. “So have fun!”

We’ll try, Mel, but it's clear you've already started having fun...maybe a bit too much.