History Film / Apocalypto

A village of rainforest tribesmen in [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Yucatán]] is attacked by an ambush of depraved city-dwelling [[UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations Mayans]] in 1502. Many are captured for use as slaves, {{human sacrifice}}s, and target practice. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

A village of rainforest tribesmen in [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Yucatán]] are attacked by an ambush of depraved city-dwelling [[UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations Mayans]] in 1502. Many are captured for use as slaves, {{human sacrifice}}s, and target practice. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

''Apocalypto'' is a 2006 Epic Historical [[{{ActionGenre}} Action]]-{{Adventure}} film entirely in the Yucatec Mayan language directed by Creator/MelGibson.

It deals with a village of rainforest tribesmen in [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Yucatán]] who are attacked by an ambush of city-dwelling [[UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations Mayans]] in 1502; many are captured for use as slaves, {{human sacrifice}}s, and [[KickTheDog target practice]]. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

** Judging by the year, the location and the number of ships, [[spoiler:the Spaniards]] seen at the end of the film are implied to be [[spoiler:UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus in his fourth and last village, in which he reached Yucatán in 1502.]] However, [[spoiler:the guy who seems to be in charge is played by a rather elderly-looking actor with a white beard, when Columbus would have been just 51 at the time (although he would die of illness the next year). The actor does resemble a bit the classical portrayals of Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher's brother, but those aren't accurate either, as Bartholomew was nine years younger than Christopher and also died in his early fifties.]]

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Blunt, the big and gentle guy who is the village ButtMonkey at first.

* CharacterFocus: From the point where Jaguar Paw escapes, most of the other characters (except Seven) drop out of the story and it focuses all on Jaguar Paw running away from Zero Wolf, leading to a lot of instances of WhatHappenedToTheMouse

* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction: Jaguar Paw would have probably met a terrible end at the hands of his final remaining pursuers had all three of them not suddenly come across [[spoiler:a Spanish fleet arriving in the Americas.]] When the other two are overcome by their shock and completely forget about Jaguar Paw, he takes the opportunity to slip away.

* DamselOutOfDistress: Seven, Jaguar Paw's wife. [[PregnantBadass Pregnant]] and trapped with her other young child in an underground cave. Whilst in said cave, she helps stitch her son's injury, bashes in the skull of a rabid primate, and still manages to climb halfway up the cave to freedom. Sadly, she falls, quickening her impending labor. When her contractions begin and the cave is filling with water, her first instinct is to hoist her son onto her shoulders. Oh, and she also [[spoiler:delivers her baby like this while being almost drowned herself]].

* DrowningPit: Jaguar Paw's pregnant wife and child get trapped in one when the rain begins falling. If alone she would have been fine (she would just float up), but with 2 kids who can't swim...

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Zero Wolf aiding, congratulating, and showing appreciation of his young son, then mourning him when [[spoiler:Jaguar Paw kills him in self-defense.]]

** Zero Wolf is fine with killing a lot of innocent people during the village raid, but he doesn't like it when Middle Eye décides on his own to "let go" a dying slave. Though like the above example this comes off as another inversion since he seems more irritated that Middle Eye "killed" one of ''his'' spoils of war and without his permission.

* {{Gorn}}:

* {{Bowlderize}}: When one of the slavers is bitten by a snake, Middle Eye comments, "He's fucked." And he is. This is changed to "He's dead" in the TV version.

It deals with a village of rainforest tribesmen in [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Yucatán]] who are attacked by an ambush of city-dwelling Mayans in 1502; many are captured for use as slaves, {{human sacrifice}}s, and [[KickTheDog target practice]]. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

It deals with a village of rainforest tribesmen who are attacked by an ambush of city-dwelling Mayans in 1502; many are captured for use as slaves, human sacrifices, and [[KickTheDog target practice]]. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

** When Jaguar Paw is being pursued through the jungle by the Mayan raiders and hides in the trees he discovers he is in a tree with a black jaguar cub and it’s ''mother'', as he is running away he is spotted by a raider who run towards him and ends up in the path of the big cat who proceeds to maul the raider to death, allowing Jaguar Paw to escape.

* PrecisionFStrike: When one of the slavers is bitten by a snake, Middle Eye comments, "He's fucked." And he is. This is changed to "He's dead" in the TV version.

* NobleSavage: Played straight with Jaguar Paw and his village.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
** Many aspects of the depiction of Mayan civilization were criticized as unrealistic, but some have basis in fact, such as the Maya did practice human sacrifice (only that the movie gets nuances wrong; see Artistic License - History below), did wear blue body paint, and their civilization still existed when the Spaniards arrived.
** The "black panther" was criticized as MisplacedWildlife, in reality like leopards, jaguars are known to produce melanistic (aka: black furred) specimens too.
** The scene of the solar eclipse was criticized because the people of the city become awestruck and fearful of it, when the Mayans were renowned for their knowledge in astronomy. However, it's reasonable to say that such knowledge was not widespread among the common people, in fact the movie acknowledges this when it's shown that the priests timed the sacrifices to coincide with the eclipse.

%%* TheSavageSouth

* UglyGuyHotWife: Blunt is big-boned, but not unattractive; however, his wife is clearly meant to be the most beautiful girl in the village and everyone thinks she's too good for him.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Zero Wolf and Jaguar Paw.

** When Jaguar Paw is being pursued through the jungle by the Mayan raiders and hides in the trees he discovers he is in a tree with a black jaguar cub and it’s ''mother'', as he is running away he is spotted by a raider who run towards him and ends up in the path of the big cat who proceeds to mall the raider to death, allowing Jaguar Paw to escape.

->''"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."''

It deals with a village of rainforest tribesmen who are attacked by an ambush of city-dwelling Mayans; many are captured for use as slaves, human sacrifices, and [[KickTheDog target practice]]. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

* AnachronismStew: [[spoiler:Despite being set in the classical Mayan era, the ending has the Spanish show up ready to colonize Mexico despite the fact that it wouldn't happen until 600 years after the events of the movie which by then the Mayan civilization had completely collapsed]].

** [[spoiler:The Spaniards]] seen at the end of the film [[spoiler:are implied to be UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus in his fourth and last village, judging by the year 1502, location and number of ships. However, the guy who seems to be in charge is played by a rather elderly-looking actor with a white beard, when Columbus would have been just 51 at the time (although he would die of illness the next year). The actor does resemble a bit the classical portrayals of Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher's brother, but those aren't accurate either, as Bartholomew was nine years younger than Christopher and also died in his early fifties.]]

* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction: Jaguar Paw would have probably met a terrible end at the hands of his final remaining pursuers had all three of them not suddenly come across [[spoiler: the first Europeans to arrive in the Americas.]] When the other two are overcome by their shock and completely forget about Jaguar Paw, he takes the opportunity to slip away.

* DrowningPit: Jaguar Paw's pregnant wife and child get trapped in one when the rain begins falling.
** If alone she would have been fine (she would just float up) but with 2 kids who can't swim...

* EndOfAnAge: It's in the title, the Mayan civilization is on its last legs, and [[spoiler:the Spaniards have arrived to the Americas]].

* {{Mayincatec}}: The film depicts a Mayan culture with elements taken from the Aztecs, like religion and society. Also, the sheer scale of the human sacrifices plus the practice of raiding smaller villages and settlements in order to capture slaves and sacrifices' victims, as portrayed in the film, are more reminiscent of the Aztecs than the Maya (there's also no evidence of slave auctions for the latter). Although WordOfGod has said that what he wanted to do was to depict the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything decadence of a once proud civilization, brought by political corruption, environmental collapse, and that was now resorting to sacrifice its own people]]; which, according to archaeological finds, were some of the probable causes for the Maya collapse in the southern lowlands. This would not have worked had TheEvilEmpire of the film been the Aztecs, since they were on the apex of their splendor when the Spaniards arrived.

* WhamShot: One for the characters as well as the audience; both Jaguar Paw and his pursuers stop everything and can do nothing but stare in astonishment at the sight of [[spoiler: the Spanish ships bearing the first Europeans to the Americas.]]

* NiceHat: Zero Wolf's helmet.

** [[spoiler:The Spaniards]] seen at the end of the film [[spoiler:are implied to be UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus in his fourth and last village, judging by the year 1502, location and number of ships. However, the guy who seems to be in charge is played by a rather elderly-looking actor with a white beard, when Columbus would have been just 51 at the time (although he died of illness the following year).]]

* AlwaysABiggerFish: The powerful Mayan civilization is abusing the smaller groups of forest-dwelling natives to feed their own greed. At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the Europeans arrive]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Maya did perform human sacrifice, only not in the scale shown in this film, which would be more fitting to the ''Aztecs''. Mayans only sacrificed important war captives, while lower tribes like Jaguar Paw's were instead enslaved for labour.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jaguar Paw returns in time to save his family]], but most of the cast died by the end, and then there's the fact that the Spanish Conquest is about to begin.

* OhCrap: The exact look on Jaguar Paw's face, when after climbing a tree to hide from his pursuers, he [[spoiler:[[CubCuesProtectiveParent finds himself between a jaguar cub and its pissed off mother]].]]

** [[spoiler:The Europeans at the end, though we don't see enough of them for them to be portrayed in a positive or negative light]].

** [[spoiler:The ending should also count since the Europeans unknowingly stopped Jaguar Paw's execution and will bring about the further collapse of the Mayans... before taking over themselves.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jaguar Paw returns in time to save his family]], but 95% of the cast are dead, and then there's the InferredHolocaust.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Blunt's wife Sky Flower, and Jaguar Paw's father Flint Sky.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Played straight with the pet monkey Jaguar Paw's family keeps in the village. Subverted with the crazed monkey that attacks the wife and son in the cave.

Set during the decline of the Aztec empire, it deals with a village of rainforest tribesmen who are attacked by an ambush of city-dwelling Mayans; many are captured for use as slaves, human sacrifices, and [[KickTheDog target practice]]. One young captive, a hunter named Jaguar Paw, desperately tries to make his escape back to his pregnant wife and child, who are trapped in a well at the mercy of the elements. His pursuers will have no mercy.

** When Jaguar Paw is being pursued through the jungle by the Mayan raiders and hides in the trees he discovers he is in a tree with a black jaguar cub and it’s ''mother'', as he is running away he is spotted by a raider who chases after him and ends up in the path of the big cat who proceeds to mall the raider to death, allowing Jaguar Paw to escape.