5. Apocalypto
Mel Gibson's take on the Mayan civilisation is visually stunning, delightfully gory and trip-wire tense. It's also a load of nonsense if you speak to any authorities on Maya (I was lectured by one at University and he professed the film was "entertaining guff"); the film reduces them down to being a relatively barbaric folk who did little but oppress women (especially pregnant ones) and perform human sacrifices to the Sun god. Though these rituals
did happen, the fact that the film does little to depict the culture
beyond that received some flak. Simply, it's an easy one to let go because this film is so goddamn
cool. The stakes are what make the film so thrilling to watch - the thought that if Jaguar Paw doesn't stop running, he and his family are going to be roasting on the spit by dinner time. If it were simply a case of him being admonished and maybe jailed for a little while, the film's taut through-line would actually seem awfully slack, no?