Gibson's Glory and Shame

Well, my favorite online magazine which rarely does movie reviews, has posted a review of Apocalypto, and I my must say, I'm definitely there. Sounds too good to miss. Check this out.

FIRST THINGS: "Apocalypto is so fine an example of pure filmmaking—a simple story told through the eyes of an appealing hero, sheer kinetic energy, and well-cut successions of vivid images—that I am tempted to compare director Mel Gibson’s achievement with that of a D.W. Griffith, if the parallel were not too provocative, and for all the wrong reasons.

Cautionary tales typically are set in some dystopian future: From Brazil and Gattaca to Gibson’s own Mad Max trilogy. Whether because of nuclear fallout or a technocracy that has reduces men to machines, the future is ours to fear. Apocalypto takes us back so we may contemplate the future—and cautions us that fear itself is the new Bomb.

Much attention has been paid to Gibson’s allusions to contemporary events as the controlling referent for Apocalypto. Here he is in a Time article back in March: “The fearmongering we depict in this film reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys.” Oh-kay. In any event, the film works on its own terms, regardless. So whatever you think of Mel Gibson, his beliefs, or his drunken rant, give Apocalypto a chance. It’s not a question of whether Gibson deserves it; if you love cinema, then you deserve it."

This reminds me of a different article I read on first things this summer during the Mel Gibson anti-Semitic thing. Here's an excerpt. If you find this interesting, you should click the link and read the whole thing.

FIRST THINGS: "The notion that “now we know the true Mel Gibson” is the flip side of the modern religion of the self, where the dream of being true to “who you really are” tends to mean, in practice, being true to whatever desires or compulsions you happen to feel at any particular moment. This is great news for those whose desires—a new car, say, or perhaps a new spouse—happen to be considered commendable by the prevailing orthodoxies of the age. But it’s bad news for people like Gibson, whose compulsions are still counted as sinful—because if your compulsions are your “core” and “who you really are,” then how can you escape them?

The good news, for Gibson, is that his own religion doesn’t approach things this way."