David Freidel, anthropologist and world-renown Mayan
civilization specialist reacted to the film “Apocalypto” in these terms: “"Most
film critics and moviegoers probably will not see that the film is a big lie
about the savagery of the civilization created by the pre-Columbian Maya (…)
Allegory and artistic freedom are well and good, except when they slanderously
misrepresent an entire civilization."
This movie-long display of violence and slaughter in no way does justice to the
cultural heights attained by the Mayan civilization. The Maya of today are
slandered by such a false portrayal of their culture. Moreover, such erroneous
depictions create a barrier and hinder the understanding of and the coming
together with, the Mayan culture and its descendants.
This movie leads the public, especially if not savvy about Mayan facts, to
unjustly believe that the Maya were all about butcher-like priests cutting
people in pieces under the watchful eye of a cruel, sadistic, arrogant and
brutal leader.
After seeing the Apocalypto movie, who will believe that the Maya actually
developed an amazing civilization which can inspire us and teach us a few
things?
In response to another recent « historical » movie, Alexander the Great,
professor emeritus of Ancient History at Pennsylvania State University Eugene
Borza, stated: "There is a difference between historical inaccuracies based on
ignorance and sloppy research, and those resulting from the director's conscious
decision to alter the past to support his artistic vision."
This begs the question: does the use of such a methodology limit itself to the
world of Hollywood flics, or is it more pervasive…
