Valentine's Day 2013: 10 Scenes In Which Hearts Are (Literally) Torn Out

7. Apocalypto (2006)

In another case of brutal human sacrifice, Mel Gibson's epic Apocalypto - a film about a Mesoamerican tribesman who must himself escape being sacrificed and rescue his family after the capture and destruction of his village - sees another unfortunate victim ritually sacrificed to the gods. It is, in fact, part of a mass-sacrifice at the top of a Mayan temple, with thousands of eager onlookers below cheering as it happens. Not a particularly graphic scene, but one in which a victim's heart is ruthlessly removed, and a real reminder of how cruel humanity has been in the past (even if it wasn't actually the Mayans who carried this kind of sacrifice out) and just one of several very brutal scenes in this controversial film.