Apocalypto
The Jews are responsible
for all the wars in the world.
Are you a Jew?
What do you think you are looking at sugar t@ts?
- The wit and wisdom of Mel Gibson
Forgiveness. It has become a three-ring circus, complete with clowns, in
America. Jimmy Swaggart, tears running down his face, letting the world know
that he had sinned. Hugh Grant sitting next to Jay Leno smiling that devilish
grin as he apologized for what a bad boy he was. President Bill Clinton, family
Bible in his hand and his reputation more stained than the infamous blue dress,
asking America to forgive him. Jane Fonda, freshly married to Ted Turner and
with major projects coming up, sitting with Vietnam vets and eating crow for
going to North Vietnam over a quarter of a century ago. Future governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger confronted with a host of women who accused this family values
candidate of behaving badly. Russell Crowe treating The David Letterman Show
like a confessional after chucking a telephone at some desk clerk’s head. It is
almost a ritual. Get yourself in trouble, contact your image consultant and
publicist, call Leno, Letterman, or Barbara Walters, act like you are sorry, if
only for getting caught, say the magic words scripted for you, do a little
dance, and hope all your problems go the way of the dodo. The problem is, it is
a perversion of forgiveness. It allows the likes of David Duke to pretend that
the white sheet that used to hang in his closet is no longer there while wearing
the benign racist coat of Ronald Reagan, complete with code words like
reserve-racism, quotas, and state’s rights. Now it is Mel Gibson’s turn to
parade around like a cat on a hot tin roof. For years there have been rumors of
his anti-Semitism, much of it due to his father’s stupidity in denying the
holocaust and belief in a Jewish/Mason conspiracy. (I’m a Mason. If we are
running things, I didn’t get the memo at the last meeting where we agreed to
start bombing Iran, make vanilla the flavor of the day at TCBY, and continue to
use MENSA member Paris Hilton as a conduit to subvert America’s intelligence.)
Well, Mel decided to gulp, gulp, put the beer goggles on, get behind the wheel,
zoom, zoom, and play Speed Racer on the California highways. While any old
celebrity can get pulled over by the cops, it takes a superstar the likes of Mel
Gibson to make everyone in America turn around, pause for a moment, and scratch
our heads. A drunken rant about the Jews by a multi-millionaire, half-nuts,
aging movie star as he is being handcuffed by California’s finest is a thing of
beauty. It is right up there with listening to a Scientologist talk about Xenu,
Michael Jackson looks blankly at the television camera as he replies that he
sees nothing wrong with a 40-year-old men sleeping with 12-year-old boys, and
anytime Pat Robertson opens his mouth. Mel has issued the right statements,
knelt before the television altar, and asked for forgiveness. Does he merit it?
Does he really mean it? Do we really care anymore? It is a question worth our
consideration as video cameras, email, and cell phone are everywhere today to
ensure that your and my idiocy is captured for eternity.
I am a firm believer in forgiveness. It is what makes America so great. God
knows I have received a lot more of it than I deserve. It is forgiveness that
allows our two political parties to fight, then come together and work for the
betterment of this nation and the world. In the ancient Hebrew world that a
certain carpenter lived in, to be forgiven, is to be made whole, but like an
early 12-step program, in the act of forgiveness you must offer to others the
wholeness that you have just received. For example, even though Rush Limbaugh
likes to bring up Democratic Senator Harry Byrd’s joining the Klan as a young
man, often calling him “Sheets.” Byrd has apologized for being in that
organization and has worked hand-in-hand with African-Americans. If Byrd should
be forgiven, it is in the hands of the people he hurt, African-Americans. Much
like Swaggart, I believe if David Duke really changed his heart he would have
spent years working with the people the Louisiana Klan hurt instead of peddling
his new soft-core racism.
Mel Gibson needs our forgiveness because he has a new movie coming out.
I think the answer to Mel’s forgiveness can be found in the beautiful and powerful film he has made called Apocalypto (which means “a new beginning” in Greek). Like The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto features no English with subtitles letting contemporary viewers know what is happening. The movie focuses on the leader of a small Mayan village named Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood). They are a simple people living in huts and scraping together a communal existence. Their pastoral lifestyle is interrupted when, on a hunting trip, a band of weary strangers appears seeking sanctuary. Their village has been destroyed and they are on the run from some unknown enemy. The peace and serenity of their world comes to a crashing halt the next morning. The unknown enemy, the Other, attacks the Jaguar Paw’s village. Axes, clubs, blood, children’s screams, people running, panic. Hiding his family in a pit, Jaguar Paw returns to fight these invaders. Who are these barbarians? They are the civilized ones, the Mayans who live in the grand cities with the temples and pyramids. They have come for slaves and sacrifices for their gods. Jaguar Paw is captured and taken to the great city where he will see cruelty and poverty he could not previously imagine. He also has to live with the knowledge that his family is trapped in that pit awaiting his rescue. What happens to Jaguar Paw in the city? Will he be able to escape in time to rescue his family? Will European invaders show up before the final credits?
I believe that this is a better film than The Passion of The Christ. It is stunning and beautiful. Mel Gibson recreates a civilization that disappeared centuries ago. While the locations, costumes, and dialectic appear exotic, the formula is as old as time itself. Among the many awards this film is sure to garner, Rudy Youngblood should get an Oscar nomination for best actor. It is the kind of epic told around a campfire, the hero is given a limited period of time to survive and save his family. It is also a parable for the modern American Empire. Is a civilization destroyed from within or from the Other? Who are really the ones acting civilized? The same is true of a man. As much as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush want to blame others for their failures, the roots of their problems lies within. The same goes for Mel Gibson himself. This powerful epic could be a “new beginning” for the actor. America likes a good comeback story especially if it has Hollywood production values. Still, time will tell.
Verdict: An Epic Hit