Apocalypto Now...

[nightflier]

Anyone have any opinions on the hi-def transfer? Is it worth the extra money?

[PeruvianSkies]

Anyone have any opinions on the hi-def transfer? Is it worth the extra money?

My friend wrote a review for it here:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review...+DVD-Video+set)

[PeruvianSkies]

SPOILER ALERT....................

Did we really have to have some white guys show up at the end? This is a complaint I've made before, which I know Peru has taken exception with before. But why take the time and effort to make the movie so authentic, use the native language, only to ultimately make it Eurocentric at the end. What did the ending mean? Was it the reason the whole story was being told? I thought this character was important because of his trial and tribulations to protect his family, not because he was there when some Euros showed up. Ultimately it confuses and muddles what Gibson is trying to say. Was it a hint at at big, bigger, biggest fish (little fish swallowed by Mayan rulers, only to be swallowed by invading Euros)? I don't know. I thought this was a movie about a dad and a chase, at least until the last 10 minutes.

Peru you are right about one of the great qualities of the movie being that it unfolds for the viewer as it unfolds for the character, except for that last scene. Suddenly and jarringly, the movie calls upon the viewer to recollect all kinds of historical implications. It is a scene that only has any relevence and currency because of what we came to the theater with. Hopefully, Gibson will grow more confident in his simple and concise storytelling ability to cut off any extraneous appendages like that in the future.
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I felt the same way upon seeing the ending scene and I thought about it in two ways. First, I wish that we only saw the ships arriving the first time we see them. The moment when Jaguar Paw is nearly killed, but then the ships arive is interesting in that two worlds are colliding and they don't even realize it yet. I wish that we didn't see anything after this point aside from Jaguar Paw rescuing his family, but again we see that they are checking out the ships. I suppose what I partcularly enjoyed about the first time that we see the ships is that History is being made, yet it is being thrown into the background of a much smaller story. So at this juncture we have a historically significant moment that abruptly stops what is (seemingly) small potatoes when comparing side by side. Yet, we the viewer, have just built alot of significance in our character and we understand the stakes: his family.