December 2006. Though I am not a movie critic, nor do I think my views are any more important than anyone else's, I  wanted to put my comments out on Mel Gibson's Apocalypto which premiered in December this year.  I thought this was a stunning movie. The re-creation of the Mayan world literally on the eve of its conquest by the Spanish was really impressive.  I don't know how historically accurate it was (and of course that will be debated) but I enjoyed it! This is a movie that needed a little bit of time to sink in to me that it may have been intended for more than just an entertainment piece.  The issues of the dignity of human life in many situations were brought up in the context of the Mayan civlization about ready to come to an end, and that human life (at least portrayed by Gibson) in the urban Mayan society was cheap.  Here's the quote from the beginning of the movie: A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.   William J. Durant (1885-1981) I wondered after the movie if that quote was meant as more of a warning than an introduction. I'd recommend this movie to my fellow history buffs.  It's a very intense and at times brutal movie, so be forewarned. Back to reading list
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