¶ … Apocalypto" (2006), Produced and Directed by Mel Gibson In this motion picture, Mel Gibson provides a reasonably historically accurate representation of the Mayan civilization, including their manner of dress, customs, rituals and values. From the outset, it is clear that Gibson was committed to recreating what life must have been like for these early Mesoamericans who were confronted with danger at every turn and who remained firmly in the food chain. With enemies all around them and jungle creatures wanting to eat them, it is little wonder that the Mayan people were highly superstitious, and Gibson draws on this attribute to illustrate how their beliefs translate into action through bloody human sacrifices intended to propitiate the sun god and other deities that controlled every aspect of their lives.

Although their codices were largely destroyed by the Spanish, sufficient written records remain to suggest that Gibson was making a serious attempt to remain faithful to the extant historical evidence. Indeed, viewers are left with the impression that somehow Gibson managed to find a lost civilization and film it just for this movie. Moreover, even though there is no way of knowing what these people were really like in their day-to-day lives,...

Likewise, on the way to Maya City, the superstition of the Mayans appears justified when a small girl, unafraid of the fierce warriors, warns them that they are all doomed, a warning that confirms their worst fears about their imminent fate. In this regard, Rehill reports that, "The Mayans are going down as a civilization, and they know it. Those in charge feel they can change this course of events through building more temples and sacrificing more people."[footnoteRef:1] [1: Annie Rehill, The Apocalypse Is Everywhere: A Popular History of America's Favorite Nightmare (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010), 191.]
Besides encountering the small girl, the prisoners and their captors also pass some historically accurate evidence…