History buffs is correct that the Maya abandoned most of their big cities during the post-classic period, however according to the Spanish, wealthy Mayan cities and marketplaces still existed when they arrived. So it's a bit of a leap to say "city + famine HAS to mean classic Mayan civilization".
Lmfao, the more i think about this, the funnier it gets 😂🤣😂 Just imagine: Lets say these dudes start the chase in 950 AD, ok? So: 962 - Holy Roman Empire is being established. These dudes still chasing each other 1066 - The battle of Hastings. These dudes still chasing each other 1215 - Declaration of Magna Carta. Dudes still chasing each other 1315 - The great famine. Dudes still chasing each other 1337 - The hundred years' war. Dudes still chasing each other 1348 - The Black Death. Dudes still chasing each other 1378 - The great Schism. Dudes still in the woods, chasing each other 1456 - The Ottomam Turks enter Europe. The Balkans are being enslaved. Dudes still chasing each other 1460 - DaVinci is already inventing planes amd tanks and golden ratios. Dudes still chasong each other. 1492 - Columbus arrives on the Carribeans and finds an entire new world. Dudes still chasing each other in the jungle. Its finally 1500 and the Spanish are allready colonizing America. Good guy gets shot by an arrow in the chest and him and the hunters go on the beach and see the Spanish arriving The End
yeah its too bad they didnt have them chop off the hands and feet before they threw the body down the pyramids. that wouldve been historically accurate.
@@weltschmerz333 watch the movie with the optional director+producer commentary audio track on sometime. they talk about these things. also it's clear that the scene where they have jaguar paw and his buddies run away as the aztecs fire arrows is invented for the movie because the director and producer not only say that but they also say theres no historical evidence of it ever happening. they say there IS historical evidence of aztecs tying their prisoners up to poles in arenas like that and then using them as live targets because young warriors need to know what it is like to put an arrow into a live human. but there's too much risk in allowing them to run like that, without having a crew waiting in the bushes to trap any potential runaways.
For what it's worth, the movie is absolutely visually stunning and really intense. So even though it's totally worthless from a historical stand point, its a very entertaining watch
I wouldn't say totally worthless. A lot in the film was accurately portrayed. HOWEVER, (like this video explains) it all happened at DIFFERENT PERIODS in history. Not on the same timeline. Yes, parts of the film are a mixture of several periods, but still happened nonetheless. And as you stated, still cool to see.
Javier Reyes well just use common sense. They’d only need to encounter 1 random non-famous European explorer - not the entire expedition lol Christopher Columbus might’ve been the first European to Officially find the America’s, but it goes without saying that someone likely did it before him already.
Frank Lucas So out all all the tribes and the entire region, this one tribe is one of the few to encounter disease? Look, I get that could be a reason, but it’s not the most likely, and if there can be an argument made against it, then why even have it in the movie? Why not have a disease that was already native to the region? So it makes sense if you try to rationalize it but it also doesn’t
@@markdavis7397 keep in mind that native tribes were devastated by such diseases, this movie takes several hundred years before the conquistadors had arrived, if disease like that had already existed then the native tribes would have already been devastated before they arrived, or they would have already been found medicine to counter it, keep in mind that the fact that they didn't have medicine at the time gave those who came across the sea a great advantage when colonization began, so if those diseases had already been present at a large scale then history would be very different. Mel Gibson is a huge religious nut, my bet is that he wanted to displaced the blame to put the god worshiping conquistadors in a better light, why else would he have them come in at the last moment and have them save the day.
Yep, same. I assumed all along it was the Aztecs and not the Mayans, and the villagers were some other tribe altogether. Nothing about this movie screamed Mayan to me.
Ive read somewhere (maybe Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History) that perhaps 90% of those that died of spanish-introduced diseases, actually died without every seeing the Spanish. The diseases perhaps spread along the internal trade routes of the Mayans.
This is very true. All European explorers knew it was essential to bring along LOTS of gifts & trade goods beyond just the samples for establishing potential future trade routes. This was to help ease the minds & create friendly rapport with any kings, leaders or groups they might come into contact with as well as to help cross the cultural & language barriers. Unfortunately some of the gifts & trade items (like quilts & blankets) likely carried the small pox virus. Due to the lack of prior generational exposure like ppl from the Old World the virus completely ravished their populations with estimates of up to 90% dying in the 1st waves. These are Black Death rates of death... The spread was documented by both the surviving groups in the New World & the freaked out European explorers who were losing men to it too but at a much lower percentage overall. They said the pox had caused a total epidemic & was moving along the well established trade routes faster than they were traveling. It completely ended some kingdoms that were failing due to population collapse. They documented traveling to major kingdoms only to find some completely abandoned with the locals living tribally. Now I've heard some pseudo-historians try & claim this was done intentionally. This is inarguably false. At the time this happened Europeans still incorrectly believed in the 4 humors & that illness was spread by "bad air." They did not understand how the pox spread. They were also very good with documenting their unethical intentions, planning & their reasoning but it was never mentioned. In fact we don't see anyone mention trying to intentionally give a native population small pox till over 300 years later after the establishment of America & an understanding or better understanding of viral spread was established. In a letter an officer made the highly immoral suggestion to a superior that in order to deal with a local tribe giving his area trouble they could gift them blankets used by ppl who died from small pox. We don't know how his superior replied but hopefully he rejected the cold blooded idea.
Yeah, if there was trade between Spanish Cuba, Hispanola and the mainland - the disease could have entered earlier than when the conquistadors arrived.
This is exactly what I was hoping someone would point out. Also, history buffs is mad saying the spanish hadn't arrived yet - but the movie doesn't ever suggest they haven't already arrived before. In fact, the spanish left and came back at one point. This could be their second arrival and so the girl 100% could have small pox.
@@gsimon123 Thanks, I wanted to pointing that out too, also I always felt the little girl was not to be taken literally, she's a bad omen, maybe even a demon.
@@gsimon123no this doesn’t make sense. This is too early for even the Spanish to exist. That’s what he’s pointing out that she can’t have small pox because no Europeans have made it to the America’s yet.
@@connorbranscombe6819 Pedants. That's you, and all your friends Connor, and Nick, and his subscribers. That's who cares about historical facts in films made for the recreational enjoyment of the masses. Edit. Lmfao.
@@Comical1984 Mel Gibson should just made it about Aztecs or set it after the Aztecs fell since the Spaniards were interacting with the remnants of the Mayans in the 16th century
Sax Beat Mel Gibson just acted in The Patriot. He didn’t write (Robert Rodat) or direct it (Roland Emmerich). He didn’t even produce it. So he had no say in the creative process other than how he acted.
@@dragonbones3885 yeah this is a case of trying to put everything in, I think, and so the lack of focus creates far more problems than benefits accrued from all the inclusion. There was enough with just the Aztecs, and the simple story can obviously be worked into almost any civilization or time period.
I always got the impression the village we see wasn't supposed to be specifically a Mayan village, just a small local tribe. And them speaking the same language isn't that weird, different groups and cultures often speak the same language when in close proximity.
yeah its like in Senegal, a lot of them speak their own tribal language but the vast majority (or at least a very good chunk) speak French and Wolof as well.
Yeah that's what I always thought as well. I thought it was obvious by the fact that they were so blown away upon entering the city, suggesting they were a remote tribe with no knowledge of a greater "civilization".
The sick issue is not absurd, Europeans had sporadic contacts in Yucatan and other places before their expeditions, aside this, it is a movie not a documentary or a history book.
Exactly. I was actually kinda surprised this was a issue or confusing to people. Especially people who actually watched the movie. By the end of the movie its crystal clear they weren’t Mayan and had no real contact with the Mayans.
@@ludwigvan3649 It's not that unusual for there to be a cultural difference but a linguistic similarity. Cree, Ojibwa, Miqmaw, and Innu all Speak Algonkian, but are not synonymous with the Algonquin tribe. The narrator is correct here, that I think they used Maya to create an overall impression of authenticity, but given that Maya is still taught in schools in Mexico, it was probably just an easier indigenous language to learn, or perhaps the actors already knew it. More irksome to me was the realisation that Gibson had lifted a lot of the ritualistic elements from Juan Mora Catlett's "Return to Aztlan" which was an Aztec movie. Apocolypto had struck me as rather Aztec seeming when I saw it as well. It's true that the characters are speaking Maya, and even one captured lady prays to Mayan Moon Goddess Ixchele to pretect her children, but I think the creators were assuming that the audience would not realise or care that it was Maya they were speaking. It was my impression though, that even in the context of the film narrative, this captured tribe was intended to be distinct though.
I think the smallpox scene was a sign that of European contact. Since the Europeans first went to explore Yucatan before setting sail out to conquer the bigger cities. So the final scene were the Spanish arrives, would not be a scene depicting their first arrival, but rather an indication that the natives societies soon would be conquered.
Sure, but as Nick points out, this movie takes place during the Classical Mayan collapse, which happened during the 8th-11th centuries, hundreds of years before Europeans arrive.
@@bigj1905 tbh, I allways assumed these all were Aztecs. These are obviously Mayan cities, but didn't Aztecs use at least some of them? - they clearly were very mutualy culturally influenced, and these are some good cities fully intact it good condition. So bsically the main movie problem as I see it - they LOOK LIKE the Mayans in their day-to-day life, but everything else is explained if we assume these are Aztecs. The collapse situation too, like, this deforestation-bad crops cicle was not unique, it was and mosly is the way, Ucatan ecology works. Surely Aztecs would face the same issue - and find the same f-ed up solution.
Exactly, this youtuber got so many points wrong. The Europeans had already been In North America for many years at this point before the Spanish discovered the mayans. Cuba was already conquered before Mexico was even considered for conquest
@@mr.c.3760 There are things happening in the movie that happened around the 11th century. So, which europeans were already in North America at that point in time? The problem with the movie is, that it takes a time period of several hundred years and crams it all in one movie and one specific point in time. Its like making a movie about the rise and fall of rome and its all Ceasar, ruling for a thousand years, like a guy playing Civ6.
As well as borderline insulting to every cultural group they depict. Especially when he injects his personal opinions into it, such as rabid Christianity and distaste for the English (and for a decidedly more oppressed people that I won't name. You know the one.).
@@Tea-rettesI think you are confusing the oppressed vs oppressor narrative. Mel understands this, like the majority of the non western world understands.
The answer is simple: the conquistadors were sailing in the correct timeline until they went into the Bermuda Triangle and thus, were transported 600 years earlier. Just one of the many strange supernatural occurrences of the natural world
It is a very intense movie and has pretty good acting, I've always really liked it and never have watched it from a historical lens that's why I clicked this video cause I thought learning of the history it's based in would be cool and it was definitely interesting learning about it. What you can actually learn from watching a movie like Apocalypto is more broad things of the human condition. Jaguar Paw struggles and overcomes great hardships for those he loves he's a good role model character. The whole film has the classic literary devices of man vs. X as main sticking points and the film is basically Jaguar Paw vs. The World I view it as a testament to the power of clever perseverance when you are struggling in life.
Sorry but it wasn't that intense or tense. It relies too heavily on the outrageous events (like the beheadings or... That's about it) to create tension. If you want a true movie with tension watch 'Dunkirk' that's a truly tense movie.
With the Smallpox it's entirely possible that the girls mother had exposure to Europeans somehow, it's not explicitly stated that the ship seen at the end of the movie was the absolute first contact.
Wanted to say the same. Also, as far as I learned the diseases conquered the continent way faster than the Europeans themselves. To the point that whole villages where eradicated without ever having contact with any white people.
My sentiments exactly - the backdrop of the movie is clearly an ongoing apocalypse underlined by the city-dwelling natives have become decadent. The reviewer was so eager to dump on Mel Gibson that this is entirely lost on him.
Yeah, now its making sense. In the chase relative time frame, it lasted a couple of hours. But since they ran so fast, outside their time reference, it took 600 years. Had the chase gone on longer, and they went farther up the coast, maybe they would have stopped in time, to witness, Winfield Scott's landing at Veracruz, in the Mexican War. Even farther, and rounding the Gulf, stop in South Florida, to watch Apollo 11 taking off ! Now that's some science fiction ! Where's Mr. Peabody, and his boy Sherman ?
The movie is set in the year 1511, the same year the spaniards arrived to Yucatan. Sadly the reviewer got carried away with the fact that some things in the movie happened also (or seemed like they could've happened) in the 900 century, and that was most of the video.
so film depicts how Mayans hunted small tribes (actually accurate) living in the forest and this channel straight up missed that point completely, thinking they hunted in other Mayan village?!.... and the movie is just about how civilizations of that area roughly looked like etc... not really about historical accuracy so its kinda lame to point out inaccuracies in a movie that wasnt meant to show any real historical event, just romantise it.... it deserves some complains
Why can't this film be based on multiple historical events and cultures throughout the region over centuries? It's a piece of art that got me interested in the history of Central America as a teen. I think it plays a great role as an introduction to the amazing historical and cultural turmoil of the region over a long period of time.
Why can't they make a single film based on the entirety of European history, and portray the incredibly unique and particular cultures of all those countries as one singular nation and people? The reason why this film is detrimental to general knowledge of history is because it groups together cultures that couldn't be more different into one stupid story for the ease of consumption for western, white audiences. Why should your high school teacher bother teaching you the intricacies of the south american empires when they can just throw on this offensive movie and call it a day? It's easy to do when it's about brown people from the past, isn't it? They're just all the same; primitive, tribal morons which was your preconception about them already. Do you not see how in an historical context this can be ignorant bigotry? How the consequences of showing this to a massive audience who will think this is how it happened will forever poison the well for any future movie adaptations to deliberately misrepresent our time?
Andrew, did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
@@zakkarywhiting8304 Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
@Kenny G Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
I think its not even such a big deal. Im just hoping I will never watch a movie like the maker of this video does. it does not sound enjoyable. somebody should tell him he did not watch a historical documentary but a movie...
apart from that I think a lot of people who did not even know the real difference between mayan and aztec made recherches after watching the movie. so it actually had a good side effect. people who are lazy to look things up and get their historical view through movies by mel gibson should anyways reconsider their sources..
When I first saw this film with my dad, we were both under the impression the focus was on the Aztecs, especially because of the human sacrifice scene, the emphasis on jaguars, and the conquistadors arriving.
@@zamorano18x92 You're not a history buff, so you don't have to worry about seeing movies differently, but he has a point. This movie's history is false and misrepresents the Mayans, but most people get their history nowadays from movies, so they're being misinformed about a important part of civilization's history. It may not be a documentary, but if you're gonna be set in a different time period, it's important to represent it accurately and not just make it whatever you think it should be, unless the whole point is to not be what that time period was. Plus, some of the stuff just doesn't make sense, like one Mayan tribe being advanced while the other's primitive, and they somehow never meet each other for years.
@@zamorano18x92 same guy who wouldn't care about historical accuracy would lose his shit if in a movie people celebrated moon landing in the 30s or a movie set in the 50s had a car from the 80s or if a movie set in the 90s had a ps5.. which taken how ridiculous those examples sounds this movie is 100 time worse just because you don't know history it doesn't matter to you and it doesn't bother you
I always appreciate History Buff’s videos. An interesting note is if at the end it was Cortez in 1519 then it is possible timeline wise if we look up who Geronimo de Aguilar was. He was a shipwreck friar who landed in Mexico in 1511 with dozen others, made a slave, set to executed to a Mayan God, escaped but captured again by a rival Mayan tribe and subsequently lived as a slave for 8 years while learning Mayan. After Cortes arrived in 1519 Aguilar meetup with him and along with Marlintzin (who knew Mayan and Nahault) served as translators for Cortez during his conquest. Hence this information I myself happen to learn recently can conveniently tie up lose ends in the movie. Since Aguilar and other were around prior to Cortez, they could have inadvertently given the local population smallpox in 8 years. As well as explained Mayan tribes hostile to one another which historically would have been accurate as least in Aguilar’s experiences. But don't take my word for it, looked up Aguilar and Marlintzin.
The historical inaccuracy isn't in that the people had smallpox before Cortez. Obviously they'd had it since Columbus. It's that they're getting smallpox and seeing Spaniards, not a few years or decades before Cortez, but half a millennium before Columbus or Spain even existed
“ Set in Yucatán around the year 1502, Apocalypto portrays the hero's journey of a young man named Jaguar Paw, a late Mesoamerican hunter and his fellow tribesmen who are captured by an invading force.” It is at most almost two decades off from Cortez’s arrival. I don’t know why people are so eager to back date this movie’s timeline when the synopsis itself gives a clear year.
@@intersubjective7129 Because if it takes place in 1502, as the synopsis claims, then that opens a whole new can of worms, as what we see in the movie is in no way consistent with the post-classic period. One could lessen the blow of historical inaccuracy by claiming it takes place in the 16th century, but that doesn't change the fact that cities shouldn't look like ones that were abandoned by the 10th century, nor should there be mass famine, which is a clear reference to the classic Maya collapse. Moreover, why have the quote at the beginning which deliberately indicates it's about the collapse of Mayan civilization?
I agree about your point about the cities, that seems to be the director wanting to show them at an apex of development while by 1502 they were largely reduced to warring tribes in the shadow of the Nahuatl (Aztecs). On issue of mass famines, we didn’t see more than the effect in a small region. I mean who would suffer the effects of famine worst than a deposed people living near a large empire. Granted the movie depictions does mutter that. As the far as the quote it fits perfectly with Mayans at that people who were then divided among themselves to the point of intra-tribal conflict. Their collapse had already taken place well before the movie as well as not at the hands of the Spanish. It’s fits as setup that the Mayans have themselves to blame and not some foreign force for their collapse. Though on some level the same can be argued about Aztecs though a bit more up to interpretation of history.
@@servandopereira3482It’s never specified that they are Mayans. Jaguar Paw’s tribe is unnamed. While they could be affiliated with the wider Mayan civilization, that’s just an assumption.
Not really though. Quebec Canada are French speakers and they're not French, plenty of African countries use french too, they're not French. More importantly, plenty of French people living in France are not speaking french, they're speaking Norman, Corse and Basque, to name a few. Yet, they're Frenchier than any non-French french speaker.
@@MarvinT0606 Oh yeah, but hey wait a minute. Aren't nuclear weapons gonna make winters? How did that deserts come into play? Anyway, I did love Fury road.
@jawz9184 plenty of people speak Spanish that aren't Spanish. What he is speaking just reflects the influence of the Mayan empire on the surrounding areas
I love the people in the comments that think they know more about this subject than the doctor who’s life is dedicated to this topic at the beginning of this video
The Spanish landing at the end of the movie weren't necessarily the first Spanish to land in the Americas, they could've landed 2 years ago 60 miles north of them, passed small pox to the Maya there, and the disease made its way down to the city in the movie
My thoughts exactly. Not to mention, the illness being smallpox is just yet another questionable assumption made by the video. There are other infectious diseases that produce blisters. The truth is we don't really know when the movie is set nor what precise cultures are being depicted. Are the Europeans at the end Spanish or Portuguese? Is this first contact? Are they Mayans, Aztecs or an imaginary syncretic civilization incorporating practices and behaviors from different Mesoamerican cultures at different times? Are all groups in the movie part of the same civilization/culture? What sickness are they suffering from? The movie remains purposefully indeterminate on those issues. The guy in the vid makes tons of assumptions and then faults the movie for inaccuracies based on said questionable assumptions. Apocalypto is a masterpiece in my book.
Right. This video is nitpicking in the most annoying way because half of what he says isn’t backed by any truthful information, just a guy getting upset over assumptions lol
Karl Karlos yes. the average movie goer is completely unable to tell the difference between the two, despite knowing the names of both. it's a movie with a story to tell, not a documentary. but for some reason, HB seems to think the story is about the mayan collapse, or takes place during the mayan collapse, despite no where is it ever claimed to be. this is a great channel, but this was just a very bad video.
karlhungusjr1 Excuse me this is a historical movie and not Conan the Barbarian. I think it should be criticised for failing on its own premise (not to mention it's creepy hidden agenda).
Karl Karlos what premise did it fail on? it's about a guy who's village is attacked by an azteckish civilization who are after people to use as sacrifices, around the time of coming of the europeans. and for some movie reason, they combined mayan civ with the aztek civ. pointing out that they were combined is fine, but acting like it ruins the whole movie is just silly.
karlhungusjr1 premise is to be a historic movie (and not a fantasy adventure). The culture on display is not Azteckish it's specifically Mayan which can be seen in the hyroglifics and symbols as well in the spoken language - which is anachronistic. And yes, it ruins the movie, unless Gibson always wanted to make a historical revisionist propaganda piece... oh wait.
@@winniethepooh8353 Mayans did sacrifices too, but at a smaller scale, and I don't think they practiced the flower war (a poetic name to describe the war done by Aztecs to take prisonners for sacrifice). A ting noteworthy, even for the Aztecs, it was not very common to take peasants of another tribe for sacrifice, when they were fighting the flower war, they were trying to captured the ennemy warriors, it was the most worthy offers to the Gods ^^
Krankar Volund well according to Stephen Douglas, a professor for the department of anthropology at brown university says that Mayan sacrifices mostly consisted of royalty and elites rather than slaves and according to Karl Taube (another anthropologist professor) said that there's no evidence that the mayans had large numbers of slaves. I could show you the link if you want it.
They did a awesome job with the dialect my husband is from Mexicito Chiapas and speaks one of the many Mayan dialects and he understands a lot of what they are saying.
To be fair, I looked it up. The film is supposed to be set at the beginning of the 16th century and is supposed to depict an individual Mayan City state rather than the entire empire from centuries earlier. That would justify the small pox and conquistadors, but not everything I suppose. I think they should have stated in the film what year it was, it would have avoided confusion.
I definitely agree that this movie is set in the year 1511, because that would explain the reason why some of the characters have never seen a city-state before
Yeah I was just thinking that. It’s foreshadowing, maybe there were a few colonists that scouted before the armada arrived and spread the disease idk. Either way I got it and I thought it was a good move by Gibson. The harsh criticism of this point made me skeptical of the rest of the video
The little girl even made a prophecy about the end of their civilization, the whole movie is filled with foreshadowing about the incoming apocalypse, you know, "Apocalypto" ... but, this is a channel about historical accuracy in movies that are label as "historical" so i understand his critisism while i don't really agree with him.
Seems that this was Christopher Columbus fourth travel. Before some years he did visit islands like Cuba and Jamaica. From there some travellers could bring disease to todays Mexico.
Yeah, sorry, the accent is just too high toned, we need more gutteral...you think it isn't realistic? Dude, do you think it's actually Sam Eagle screaming in all those pictures? Hank the Red tail Hawk does ALL his stand-ins and his dubs, has been since the 30s!
According to Wikipedia, Apocalypto was **not** set in the 900s, but in 1502. This was never meant to be the height of the Mayan civilization, but its twilight and decline.
that may be the case but I think this movie took licence to mix content. if spanish had not arrived already the small pox would have been impossible too... and the idea of sacrifice was very Aztec in its description. Mayans were known for bringing prosperity to ppl they conquered not death and sacrificing
@akhenatuh actually they were on decline.... aztecs ruled mexico area and had influence on maya at the time.. this is called as post classic mayan period... if you have any more doubts just do a simple google search of mayan civilization timeline...
I'm usually quite fussy about historical inaccuracies but I find this movie absolutely brilliant. It is absolutely gripping from start to finish. Many of its scenes stuck to my memory like glue. I rewatch it every few years.
@@satanasteguarda It may no longer be a civilization but Mayan people still very much exist and I'm sure they don't like their history being depicted as such
Nick - You're missing quite a bit of history here trying to nitpick for inaccuracies. Maybe lay off Korey's whiskey, ok? First, while the Maya didn't have direct contact with the Spaniards to contract Smallpox, they did have contact with other peoples that did, like the Taino. As such, the carriage of disease is likely to have affected the girl and their mother that way, particularly if it passed from traders, fishermen, whomever on their way to the city. Smallpox famously affected the Inca well before Pizarro invaded. Come 1502, the Maya would have contact with Columbus' 4th voyagers, years before Cortez moved against the Aztecs and other Spaniards invaded/colonized the central American interior. Second, the Maya did have contact with and still-thriving cities at the same time as the Aztec (Mexicali). While they weren't at their height and in many ways were on the decline, they were still around in the 1500s (in fact, they weren't conquered by the Spanish until after the Aztec had been conquered). Some historians contend that the heart sacrifices came from the Maya rather than the Aztec, given how the Aztecs seemed to reappropriate the customs and traditions of other tribes in Mexico, though evidence for this is scarce. Point is, there is evidence for heart sacrifices. The question is ultimately one of scale, of whether the sacrifices at the time had bodycounts like those of the Aztec. Given the sacrifice took place on the day of an eclipse, the larger scale sacrifice of hundreds wouldn't be out of the question. Third, there were such things as forest dwellers and, while this may not make a lot of sense to you as an urbanite in the 21st century, but people weren't as connected back then. People could go their whole lives living in the same 5 mile radius. This was actually common in medieval Europe among many peasants. I add that last part to point out that it's more common historically than you think. Shoot, places in India, China, and central Africa very much remain like this to this day. Finally, and this is the biggest thing you've missed: *the movie isn't about the Classical Maya collapse*. It doesn't take place in 900. It takes place in the early 1500s. How you missed this, I've no freaking idea. It's pretty blatant. Like your Kingdom of Heaven review (where there, you attack the theatrical cut no one watches anymore for everything addressed in the Director's Cut that everyone else watches), you miss the forest for the trees and turn in a bad review. Holy hell, you were so obviously on such a high going on this YT tangent you missed such blatant things. We get it. You don't like Mel Gibson. No need to be an ass, though.
Did you read this guy's original comment ? Most of what he's saying isn't even define proof just him saying there is suggesting of somethings. And at no point does this video make a claim that it has anything to do with race. Alot of the stuff in the movie just seems to be borrowing from famous moments in history from different cultures and putting them together for the sake of entertainment.
I thought this movie took place in the 1500s, with this being the last of what was left of the Mayans. This guy is too angry, about Braveheart, or something.
Hannibal Rasberry Neither is the video. He is guessing that the setting is the collapse of 900, while at no time in the movie, other than the pox scene, and the ending, are we given an idea of the year it's set. He didn't make this point, because it would make his scathing review, more sympathetic to Gibson. The fact he compared it to Pocahontas/Avatar, says a lot.
Except for the fact that it's clearly about the collapse of the Mayan civilization which took place in 900 AD. No amount of authenticity is gonna make up for mixing up events that took place 600 year apart.
My impression was that this took place at the arrival of Hernan Cortez in the early 1500’s. At that point only remnants of the maya existed. The civilizations in power during that period were the Aztec and Inca. The Aztec were looking to please their gods through human sacrifice as that was their custom. It’s also worth mentioning that at the arrival of Hernan Cortez the Mayan/Aztec calendar had just completed a full cycle. I always associated the eclipse with the completion of their cyclical calendar and of their prophesies. As their prophesies suggest, at the completion of their calendar was the moment that their “teacher” would return, Quetzalcoatl. Instead they got a Spanish conquistador, who scholars have suggested that the Aztec were certain was Quetzalcoatl himself. My point here is that the captors were Aztec no doubt. I had to stop midway to write this, as I do agree that there are inaccuracies, you seem not be the person to critique this film
I just finished the review and I don’t get how you ever thought that this movie was about the Mayan collapse. That was your fallacy. It’s not a perfect movie but they’re is definitely a lot to be said about it if properly construed
Yeah i don't get how he thought this movie was set in the 900s, it is far more believable that they misrepresented the mayans than them trying to say the spanish arrived in the 900s
I couldn’t verbalize this but you’re exactly right, thank you for the comment. He just sets out preconditions with no basis that he then judges the entire movie off of
The problem is is that the movie was advertised as a movie that took place during the “height” of the Mayan civilization and its fall. A date is never provided so while this does provide and explanation, I still can get behind Nick here with him saying that the movie took place in 900.
I'm from Yucatan and i remember every time someone says something about the Apocalypto movie in mayan history class, the teacher always says something about how WRONG it is historically and how "The road to El Dorado" is even more accurate.
It actually kind of is. They include things like the ball game, the sacrifices, the way many of the people were dressed, how the high ranking soldier had a jaguar skin (jaguars were considered divine and killing one gave you a lot of respect and praise), how much richer in gold was the New World (until Europe went there and turn everything into sh*t) and even depicted the Spanish as obviously terrible people (there's literally a scene were Cortes says that Miguel and Tulio will be sent to Cuban slavers). Heck the jaguar year thing is a reference to Tezcalipoctla, the jaguar God and a pretty insane deity (although pretty much every pre-Colonial deity in Mexico was blood thirsty).
@I don’t exist For tax and insurance purposes Yes and no. If you go as a tourist on vacation to visit the historic places you don't have to, but if you want a more meaningful interaction with the people then yes, you do need to speak Spanish fluently.
Assuming the film is set circa 1500, it is entirely possible smallpox made it to Central America before Mayans saw "a single Spaniard." It is well documented that European diseases traveled much faster and wider than the Europeans themselves, wiping out entire regions before Europeans even set foot in the area. This is because the disease was carried by indigenous people who traded, traveled, and waged war among one another.
Except that the so-called "Mayan collapse" being depicted in the movie occurred around 900, which was well before Europeans came to the New World and exposed Natives to diseases like Small Pox.
@@johnballard7775 Fair enough, in the time period of 1500, there would be a slight chance that they could have been exposed to Small Pox, however, what the movie is depicting wasn't a thing in the Mayan civilization in 1500. That was in 900. That's the problem.
@@slipjones2 The Mayan didn't exist in force? The part of the Mayan civilization that built the pyramids, built other architectural structures, used hieroglyphic writing, mastered farming, and mapping the stars was a very strong and unified civilization for a very long time. While the Mayan civilization didn't just disappear, until being conquered by Europeans around 1600, what's known as the classic Mayan collapse (not really a collapse) occurred between 700 to 900 CE. This so-called collapse according to the archeological record, is when a vast majority of the Southern parts of the classic Mayan civilization was abandoned in favor of the Northern region and became more splintered afterwards. The Southern region, where the Mayan civilization basically started saw a boom in population and architectural building from essentially 20 CE onward, then around 700 to 800 CE the population and architectural building slowed down exponentially and disappeared around 900 CE. While there's a lot of theories as to why such a civilization grew then abandoned everything so rapidly is still unknown. However, the one theory that's gaining the most traction is a drought. This drought occurred around the 800 and 900 CE time frame which was depicted in the movie. The problem is that there wasn't any drought around 1500 when the Spanish first arrived in the region which the movie depicted that too. Since the movie showed what is Small Pox, the two events couldn't have occurred at the same time. This really isn't that hard to understand.
Having them without shields makes the fights more intense. Also, most of the actors have no idea what they´re doing, so giving them another thing to handle would just be too much. They would end up moving the shield all the way behind their back while swinging anyway, because a lobotomy is apparently a job requirement for a choreographer..
Jirka Zalabák It becomes stupid when someone in the movie actually starts using shields, and gains an advantage. Like when Boltons SUDDENLY have a shit load of shields, while nobody before that moment used them. And, predictably, they sweep the floor cause they have shields. With long spears. In formation. It's ETHER nobody has shields, OR everyone has them. There is no culture that didn't invent a shield.
I meant they have no idea how to fight properly. Just look at the silly way Kit Harrington clenches his fists while beating up Ramsay(it is not the dumbest thing I have ever seen, but it could still lead to some unnecessary injuries). The thumb is out of the fist. IRL, the hand would break so easily, especially when hitting someone right in the mouth and teeth, as he did like 20 times. There are very few actors who actually know shit about swordfighting, or fighting in general(and those who know something are often terrible actors, so...). Also, if they gave them shields, it would make sense to fight in a formation, which Holywood will not have, because then, the viewers would start demanding battles in formations. And well, where will it end? What will the poor Holywood do then?
AlHoresmi They're clearly slavers who are out to capture slaves without killing too many so they'd attack with surprise and without killing too many, perhaps rendering shields over encumbering for their use.
It really is. Anybody who goes to watch a film like this and expect historical accuracy must have a screw loose. It’s first priority is to entertain and make money with this film did. I saw it when I was 16 and it blew my mind. It was so great.
@@scionixx9568 If you want to make a movie with mayan/aztec influence, fine. The issue isn't that, its the fact that it markets itself as an accurate, historical film. Which this movie does not do. Imagine if Star Wars marketed itself as a horror movie because George Lucas was inspired by a horror movie he liked, you'd be PISSED because star wars is OBVIOUSLY not a horror movie. this movie markets itself as a historical film/historical fiction (think Saving Private Ryan), and it just isnt... its closer to a fantasy film.
Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
@@jwalker-zf5fd Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
Benito Gonzalez Jr. I watched it just to watch a good movie However all of the human sacrifice scenes actually did happen under the Aztec empire right before the Spaniards got here And the Spaniards did not have any back up Imagine traveling to another world and seeing Native American priest ripping beating human hearts out of their chests That’s some scary bullshit right there
To be fair, Mel Gibson had absolutely nothing to do with writing/ directing The Patriot... It's a freaking Roland Emmerich movie... Gibson only acted in it.
No kilts,no blue paint....totally out of place in 1305. No nookie with the Queen,Edward 1 died after Wallace in 1307 of the shits ......so l have read.
On Mayan presence during colonization: The Spaniards actually battled the Mayans when they arrived in Mexico (Yucatan peninsula). Some erroneously believe the Mayan civilization vanished centuries before but this isnt the case. Rather, the golden age of the Maya's did come to an end centuries prior to colonization. On smallpox: Smallpox was introduced by the Spaniards to the Taino natives on the Caribbean islands. The Taino were an Arawak people who lived and traded along the Caribbean coast. It is only logical that European diseases were, after first contact by Columbus, carried through onto mainland Central America wiping out masses of native inhabitants before the Spaniards even set foot there. It is even not so far fetched to see Mayans being influenced as a vasal state by their Aztec overlords in terms of ritual sacrifices. It is furthermore argued that after the slow decline of Mayan civilization a lot of Mayans fled into the jungle and continued an isolated existence there. So having a tribe living in a hunter-gatherer context yet speaking Mayan is not that far fetched.
I am not sure if the declined THAT much. I mean most natives still used small fields for various crops - even in the rainforrest they cleared areas and planted something. The village in the movie is even much "inferior" to quiet a number of typical villages in the rainforrest in size and buildings (as far as I know). That mean not it could not exist in that way, but I think it is unlikely that people from the Maya would live in that way.
Why exactly is a smallpox outbreak out of the question? The ships appearing at the end of the movie (spoiler) are not the first European ships that arrived to the the New World. The disease would have absolutely spread to people that had never made contact with Europeans yet, and those people would have no explanation for that disease.
Mexico was discovered 1517, but smallpox was only introduced 2-3 years later. The first European to reach Mexico was Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, who landed in the Yucatan, if the movie takes place in the Mayan polities, then it would make sense that the ship at the end of the movie belongs to Francisco Hernández. Actually, Smallpox hit the former Aztec Empire first in the north, it didn't reach the Yucatan till much later, because it was brought by african slaves the spanish brought in to replace the native labor after the conquest of the Mexicas. Either way you look at it, the timeline doesn't match up, because by the time Smallpox was brought to Mexico, the Mayan city-states already had knowledge of the Spanish, and had fought them in several occasions (though like the guy state, the architecture is wrong for that timeline). Anyways, it's a movie, and I have yet to see a "historical movie" that is 100% free of historical inaccuracies. I'm thankful for Mel Gibson for making a movie in the Mayan language with Maya people (I'm part Maya). He's definitely one of the best of our time and Apacalypto is quite enjoyable nonetheless.
There were Christian missions to Scandinavia as early as the 8th century so a group of Christian Vikings arriving in mesoamerica around the time of the Mayan collapse would still be more historical than most of this movie
I've watched the audio commentary with Gibson and the co-writer, they openly admit that they blended some aspects of different periods of Mayan civilization, and they share that the film takes place in 1502. Although this film isn't by any means completely historically accurate, the filmmakers were never attempting to make it that way, their commentary goes over that notion several times.
@@MetalRampage23 let's not act like everything he touches is gold. I'm not a fan of Mel Gibson as an actor, and I don't even like Braveheart. But this film is a masterpiece and I'll always defend this film for what a Cinematic experience it is.
@@MetalRampage23 I agree totally. I love historybuff's videos, but anything that deals with Mel Gibson will be hated and criticized, regardless of how good the movie is.
I always thought that the villagers dying of small pox was kind of a hint that the Spanish had already arrived in the New World and the news just hadn't reach that particular part of the continent yet. Foreshadowing if you will. I mean if you think about it makes sense, there was never that many Spaniards in the New World and they didn't conquer it all at once, it would make sense for some more remote tribes to only hear about them a lot later after they had arrived or even for the disease to reach them before the Spaniards themselves.
You made an unfair criticism of the village in 2:30 It's a periferal tribe not necessarily connected to the mayan empire. This is what most tribes from central to south america looked, and still look, like.
The Nanman tribes from southern china in the three kingdoms period spoke a slightly altered dialect from the civilized chinese. If a people descend from the same migratory ethnic group they'll speak simillar languages despite technological disparities.
Nanman The Legend like he said, this would have worked if you didn't have them speaking Mayan and cut out that part where they admit to never having seen a Mayan city before even though, whether this movie is representing the Classic Maya or the Post-Classic Maya, these cities where literally everywhere. He's not exaggerating, I've lived in central America before (from Mexico all the way to Costa Rica) and these cities, or remnants of them, are literally all over the place.
Was the first tribe supposed to be Mayan? I was under the impression that they were not part of the Mayan civilization though could have shared a similar language to the Mayan’s who ravage their village. I don’t think it’s impossible to have “more primitive” tribes or ways of living next to more civilized societies like the Mayans. For instance, even today (globally) standards and ways of living are still very different. Not everyone drives to a grocery store to pick up their produce.
Even to this day there are tribes of people who live like this. It's extremely rare but true. Nick points out they speak Mayan but I honestly think he's being so damn nitpicky about it. I'm not sure if Mel or the writers ever claimed it to be historically accurate He has pointed out that too many movies like this are made that are horribly inaccurate when it comes to history. But that shouldn't make a person think a movie is complete shit because of it. Out of all his videos he's made this by far Nick in his whiniest form.
@MARCVS ANTONIVS Yes, exactly, and it's also been recorded that the Mayans' first in contact with smallpox was through trade relations with the Aztecs, not direct contact with the Spanish.
Plus the Mayans as a unified Empire didn’t exist at this point, it had already collapsed by the time the Europeans came and was just a collection of states who all were Mayan, some still were united by this time but some were not anymore. So it’s entirely possible there were a bunch of these break away groups of people who were starting their own independent villages, but to his point they probably still should have included more advancement as they would’ve retained at least some of that, but maybe they were just starting anew.
Exactly that was my impression. Theyre not mayan they just speak the language. Nahuatl was spoken by many non aztecs and was very widespread even in isolated pockets amongst other languages.
I've notice many films do this now. Like the show Vikings that takes Viking leaders from hundreds of years apart and put them together as one family. And then made it so Ragnar did all the events they did in their times.
@@johnmoreno5965wow your knowledge of Mayan history sucks. Not only were they there, they were the last civilization/cities to be conquered all the way up to 1800s! 300 years later after the Spanish arrived.
Claystead yes. but as we can see as they're entertaining the city the limestone minds are still building large structures (which would never have occured after 900A.D.) and the amount of people being sacrificed (which as he pointed out is like 5 times more than Mayans would ever have sacrificed) would only have happened at the time of the Maya collapse when there was a spike in human sacrifice due to the failing crops. Not even counting the massive corpse pile we see later in the movie, the amount of people at the bottom of the pyramid was way more than any remaining Mayan city would have sacrificed during the Post-Classic Maya period. Even the Wikipedia page admits that Mel Gibson made a mistake depicting the great Maya collapse with the Spanish arriving at the end of the movie.
Claystead on a different note, lets say this film does take place in 1511 as Mel claims it does, The mural in the arched walkway combined elements from the Maya codices, the Bonampak murals (over 700 years earlier than the film's setting), and the San Bartolo murals (some 1500 years earlier than the film's setting).
@@wPleasur3Liking a movie doesn't mean you don't care about natives or history. This movie NEVER promoted itself as a documentary. Plus, nobody should be learning about history from Hollywood.
@@wPleasur3 Ignorance persists bc our school systems are crap. Anyone out of elementary school should be old enough to know Hollywood has never and will never make a 100% accurate movie/tv show. When Hollywood does their job right they send ppl down rabbit holes for hours/days looking up documentaries for actual knowledge on the subject of the movie/tv show. I watched tons of documentaries after 300, Gladiator, Troy, HBO's Chernobyl etc.
I admire your work and have always enjoyed your content but I think you are being terribly unfair to this movie. For starters, you praise the use of native language but then poison the well by asserting that its just a scam to lend authenticity to the film, a logic that could be applied to any historical accuracy present in any movie. You say the Mayan would never live in a village like that depicted. However its a fallacy to assuming people with similar languages must have identical cultures. What would happen to mayan speakers if they inhabited an area that could not support farming agriculture and larger villages? Is that a scenario that you think is impossible? We have that today. It would be like looking a movie about lumberjacks or fur trappers in Alaska or northern Canada, and saying "Oh this is such bullshit....people who speak English live in big cities like New York and London.....look that fur trapper talked to that city person....totally bullshit". Smallpocks. You get indignant that the native could be dying of a disease without directly contacting Europeans themselves. This is false, indeed waves of epidemics spread out far in advance of European settlers and explorers. Columbus landed in the Yucatan on his fourth voyage in 1502........10 years after first contact. Its is totally possible, and indeed very likely that European dieses were spreading and ravaging native populations within this time frame. There could easily have been undocumented Spanish contact before this, or Native Caribbean peoples who fled the Spanish but brought their diseases with them. This is totally plausible. In terms of the number of cities.....sure if you combine all the cities that ever existed from all time...they are everywhere. However Apacalypo isn't set against the entire length of the mayan civilization, but just a few days at the start of the 16th century. By then classical mayan civilization was over and the number of cities massively reduced (most were swallowed by the jungle after all).You say that this movie cant decide what culture its borrowing for and that you cant use both. However cultures mix all the time. Indeed a few minutes before you chided the movie for using both, you say that the late mayan civilization borrowed/was influenced by Aztec Culture. Since we know this movie is set in early 16th century and not the classical period, and because of its geographical setting, that type of influence and cross cultural admixture is to be expected....though its true the precise components of that admixture may not be documented historically. Ecological degradation and famine were not limited to the end of the classical mayan period. Nor were cities and hunter gatherer societies never adjacent or contemporaneous to each other. The mayans still had cities in the post classical period and they were influenced by the Aztec so many of the issues you raise can, if not be historically proven, at least plausible argued. At the same time there were still hunter gatherers living in other areas. Though are certainly inaccuracies in the film and nobody should use it as a substitute for actual research (something you could admonish for any movie) I think you have been incredibly unfair.
agreed, also this was a pretty freaking amazing film IMO--it gives you a rough idea of the peoples and cultures, but ultimately it is a movie and needs a plot, etc. Visually it is gorgeous.
lengthyounarther All valid points. I myself felt that he was being too harsh. Plus, I hope he reads your comment. Maybe then he'll realize that he was being incredibly harsh. And, don't get me wrong, I am definitely not a fan of Mel Gibson but this was a one of a kind film in terms of the setting. Have to give credit where credit is due.
"one of a kind film in terms of the setting. " How on Earth is that supposed to be a justification for *historical falsification?* So, what, make enough films with the Mayan setting and Apocalypto will magically be revealed for what it is once the setting is saturated enough?
"Go ahead and wish hard that the ever make a movie as detailed as apocalypto about mayans or aztecs won't happen." Oh, so that justifies falsifying their culture and history to make them more "exotic" to the viewer? Got it. Yeah, turns out that a lot of people of Mayan descent didn't like, you know, their ancestors being portrayed as *genocidal maniacs* because Gibson couldn't be assed to differentiate between the Aztecs and Mayans.
"the arrival of the Europeans was a deliverance?" how did you get that out of this movie. I do believe that showing the child and mother with small pox was a fore shadowing of what was/would be happening with the arrival of the Spanish--not a "good" thing wouldn't you agree?
The film is set in 1502 you’ve came to the conclusion that this is during the fall of maya because they’re having a drought which I’m sure they had plenty of
Wikipedia says 1517, but either way, I really didn't like this History Buffs video. All the yelling and screaming... and virtually all of that and all the criticisms are because his interpretation that the movie is set in the 9th century. If he would only drop that, few criticisms are valid, and no need for the annoying screaming and absurd time traveling nonsense part. If set in 1517, the girl with smallpox could be reasonable as Spanish and other exporers had already arrived in other locations, and the disease could have (and did) spread by then. The fact the main characters weren't aware of major cities would be explained as the Maya largely collapsed 600 years earlier, so saying there were Mayan cities everywhere wouldn't be correct at that time. However there were a few that remained, such as Iximche, which scattered Mayan villages remaining at the time (Mayans didn't fully disappear till almost 1700) might be shocked seeing. Which also explains his other criticisms early in the video such as "the land not being cultivated". In the 16th century, the few remaining Maya were scattered and no thriving civilization existed anymore! Point being, if we set the movie in early 16th century, nearly everything makes sense. Only major critique might be they portray a Mayan cultural city that's more accurate to one from the 9th century.
@@grobbs666I disagree with this because the movie’s description only says that it takes place in the “height” of the Mayan civilization. So ironically, the claim that this movie takes place in the 1500s is kinda baseless because the movie is unclear when it actually takes place. What I think happened is that the writers mixed up the Aztecs and Mayan and if you say these guys are Aztec it makes sense
You'll take any scenario if it explains how conquistadors traveled back in time 600 years. Okay. What if rather than depicting the Maya collapse c.900 AD, it was straightforwardly depicting the time of the Yucatan Maya's first contact with the Spanish in 1511? This resolves why some Maya have smallpox, as the Spanish had already made contact with other parts of modern Latin America which meant the spread of disease. Many native Amerindians who died never even saw a white man because the disease traveled so quickly, hence in some areas, smallpox preceded the Spanish. Whether that was the case in the Yucatan, I don't know, but if you give the film artistic license, the conflict is resolved and the plot makes sense. This 1511 date also resolves why the style of sacrifice resembles postclassical Maya sacrifice (it was set in the postclassic era). I believe the reason for the central conflict of the film is that there is a (whether historical or ahistorical) remnant holdout of urban Maya attacking other Maya groups that had moved away from the urban lifestyle to the hunting culture in the forest, sacrificing their neighbors to ease the burden on their own population.
That...actually makes a lot more sense. After all, the Maya civilization WAS still around in the 16th Century, even if they were in decline whereas the Aztecs were top dog in Mesoamerica. However, for the sake of comedy, we’ll assume that the conquistadors were time travelers.
Perfectly makes sense mate... was thinking the same.... they even consulted maya archeologist Richard Hensen for this movie... some youtubers goto any length just to bish bash a movie...
There it is, finally a comment that makes perfect sense, he also went for how the natives should speak english so that the common audience digest it better yet nitpicks to the point where if the people breathe inaccurately it is worthy of condemnation.
Independent Mayan civilizations continued until 1697 when the Spanish conquered Nojpetén, the last independent city-state. Millions of Maya people still inhabit the Yucatán peninsula today
Except this movie shows Mayans still living in massive cities in the 1500s, which isn't true at all. After the collapse the Mayan civilization reverted back to a simpler way of life. There were no occupied cities in the Yacutàn at this time.
various grousp within the aztec or mayan states spoke different languages. I agree they must not be confused and the movie sucked but its not right to say they are not even similar cultures, because they are both part of Mesoamerican civilization along with various other less famous cultures
According to the DVD commentary by Gibson and Farhad Safinia, the ending of the movie was meant to show the first contact between the Spaniards and Mayans that took place in 1511 when Pedro de Alvarado arrived on the coast of the Yucatán and Guatemala, and also during the fourth voyage of Columbus in 1502.
It is amazing to be how successful the Mayan, and Aztec empires were without iron or horse. Both empires had advanced mathematics, and writing. Their calendars extremely accurate, and a system of calculation and geometry so efficiently both civilizations erected great pyramids without the backbone of Pythagoras.
Alot of that had to do with population. brute force your way to success by having alot of people and alot of food. Gotta remember when the spanish made it to tenochtitlan, the city was bigger and more populated than madrid at the time
@@xzxchx No, no, I think that has to do with them being humans with brains. I don't like the idea of dismissing native american success without horses and iron as simply "brute-forcing". It kinda takes away merit where it's certainly due.
@@andreribeiro4639 No doubt they were brilliant, especially considering the acoustic characteristics of their temples, and their knowledge of astronomy. Certainly intelligent people but having alot of people and the means to feed them allows you to focus on such things, rather than being constantly concerned with not starving. And building the structures as large as they did would demand a large pool of man power. In THAT sense, having alot of people meant they didnt need pig iron tools. Probably would have come up with something like that though had they enough time to.
This movie was extremely entertaining, historical inaccuracies notwithstanding. I do however appreciate your work in pointing them out. I don't look to Hollywood for its accuracy. I'm Haitian and we aren't ever portrayed accurately so I've learned to make my peace with it.
@Manny Santiago same, but I've seen several of his videos and really appreciate that it's his schtick. Apocalypto is one of my favorites and getting myself upset about inaccuracies would undoubtedly ruin it for me.
@Manny Santiago It doesn't need to be a documentary for it to be accurate, dude. Saving Private Ryan was very historically accurate while also serving as a reminder, artistically and symbolically, of the horrors of war.
Everyone confused about the main Characters being Maya, you have to remember that the Aztec were at war with neighboring tribes that did not want to join them, so when Cortez and the Spanish show up one of the reasons he was able to beat over 20k vs his 400-900 men, was because the neighboring tribes just like the one in the film, joined him because they also wanted to destroy the Aztecs, ultimately leading Cortez to turn on them after the big enemy was gone
@@ulvschmidt7174 Mayans and Aztecs are completely different ethno-cultural groups that happened to share similar architecture and religious beliefs. Likewise, Spaniards and Germans may construct similar buildings and largely practice similar religions, but they have completely unrelated languages and cultures.
@@Tea-rettes there was a lot of overlap between the two towards the end of the mayan civilization as the aztecs had risen in power and influence while the mayans had been slowly collapsing.
Watch the documentary on the making of it,they actually done a ton of research, they are a solitary jungle tribe not Mayan…the mayans used to capture other tribes for slaves and rituals.
I was so annoyed with this in the video. Even TODAY there are isolated primitive small tribes, yet somehow it was impossible then? The movie has quite a few historical miscues, but so does this video. Guy doesn't show himself as he's too busy putting other people's stuff down with a condescendent smirk. At least be accurate about it!
The Mayans were basically gone by the time the aztec were at the height of their power. That isolated tribe could have been remnants of mayans seeing how the film is in the 1500s. The aztecs were known for capturing people and collecting tributes for human sacrifice. Even the depiction of the sacrifices on the pyramid were accurate. Most of the film is historically accurate, its just a fictional story.
@@NickMachado mhm , this would make a great video game , we are a Mayan warrior and we capture people for human sacrifice and slavery . That’s a game I would play . Enough of ww2 ! Give other time periods the spot light .
Well I really appreciate your channel and generally enjoy your reviews, you should never review a Mel Gibson film at again. It not only grossly colors your every sentence, it also leads you to make some serious historical errors. No where does Mel Gibson say this film takes place in the 900's. You made an erroneous assumption that the film portrayed the great collapse pf the Classic Mayan period. However, the Maya still existed when the Spanish made landfall and where again experiencing environmental problems very similar to what had ended the Classic period. In the period of first contact (circa 1510), the Maya were again facing major drought or crop failures, which would greatly reduce their ability to resist the Spanish. The heart sacrifices are correct for this time period as the Maya adopted it from the Aztec. While the rate of sacrifice is high, we have substantial evidence that in dire times, these rites might call for the sacrifice of over a thousand people over several days; a full solar eclipse coinciding with famine and a strange new disease would certainly qualify. And speaking of the disease, yeas that's small pox and that's pretty much exactly how it happened. With the very first contact, only a few would have initially been infected. But the infected would move inland, carrying the disease with them. That's clearly what the film is showing. Finally, your complaint about Jaguar Paw's village are pretty far off. It's clear that the tribe initially shown is from a outlying area. While the classical Mayan city is a large urban area, they did also have small hunter gatherer groups. Alvorado's campaign encountered many of these tribes. Many of them allied with the Spanish because while they ethnically were Mayan, they were not part of the Mayan state. That's why they are attacked and sacrificed in the film. Your complaint about the lack of stone cities is off as well. It's very common in primitive societies for most of their members to never travel more that a dozen miles from their home. In a thick jungle environment, where food and resources are plentiful, long distance travel is both more difficult and unnecessary. And the complaint that no one had seen a stone city in a thousand years doesn't hold up because, as the Maya lacked a written language and had essentially 0 literacy in their own symbology among commoners, anything that happened outside of Jaguar Paw's life would have been essentially myth. And the map you showed of Mayan settlements included all Mayan settlements ever. By the Post Classic period, many of those sites had been abandoned, and completely hidden by the jungle. As we see even today, a tribe could live within a mile of a site, and unless someone stumbled upon the exact site, they might never notice. You can certainly make the case that you disagree with Gibson's interpretation of what Mayan culture actually looked like, or the scale of certain events, or the interaction between different groups. But most of your stated objections are either blatantly wrong, or issue from false assumptions. Judging by your flexibility in many other films, I think it's pretty clear your hated of Braveheart and The Patriot are coloring everything Mel Gibson does. That's too bad, because despite all of its other problems, Apocalypto is as accurate as a film mainstream film about Pre-Columbian indigenous people can be.
Thank you Mauther for making my argument better then I possibly could have. The whole point of this channel is to essentially fact check films, but this review feels like it's from someone who is so blinded by his hatred for its director, that he's incapable of offering a well-informed unbiased critique. I'm not a fan of Mel Gibson, but this should not be the venue for bashing him for being a douschebag racist.
Mauther Hacksaw Ridge is pretty accurate, with only 2 major exceptions. The film skips the prior battles the protagonist fought in and instead makes it out like Okinawa was the only battle he fought. Also, it crams the whole battle (at least the part he fought in) into 4 days. It took 3 weeks.
Yes, its like he's going out of his way to misunderstand the film. Even as I watched it in the theatre when it first came out, it was clear to me that the first village was an offshoot of the many mayan sub-tribes. And that the little girl's small pox was an indicator of spanish presence in the continent and of things to come. I only questioned the chronology of the mayan civilization coinciding with the spanish arrival but excused it as being a Zapotec, Toltec or any of the other pre-colombian civilizations active in Mesoamerica during the time.
I agree that smallpox could have and probably did reach the Maya and other indigenous peoples before there was contact with Europeans. However I feel as though I must contents a few points if not for the sake of devil's advocate. Yes it is easy to hide small isolated tribes in jungles, but the few uncontacted tribes live in the Amazon rain forest, while the Yucatan peninsula is mainly a rainforest biome it isn't as large as the size of the Amazon and is different in terms of soil fertility. One jungle may be similar to another but it is small differences that can make the difference between isolation and communication. While it is true that the Spanish had trouble navigating the rainforests without guides, the Maya would not have been so restricted. In the classic era and the postclassic era, many Mayan armies and traders crisis crossed the peninsula. I imagine it wouldn't take long before even the most isolated tribe would have been discovered. I should also say that even though human sacrifice did grow in the Maya region, it did not florish. what I will critise the review for saying heart extraction did exist in the classic era according to current evidence, mostly in the precursor to the Mexica (Ectonym: Aztecs) nation, the city state of Teotihuacan. Even with that said, there is very little to suggest the Mayan's sacrificed often. And they hated it, according to one of my sources. The priest who performed the sacrifice, called the Nacom (not to be mistaken with the military position of the same name) was disliked in the community. Presumably because the concept of sacrifice was mainly brought in by the Toltec invasion of the Yucatan peninsula. Even if there was sacrifices that the Mayans believe needed to be made, it would not have been heart extraction nor would it have been an entire village. Heart extraction tended to be reserved for warriors of great respect or captured leaders. Cenote or decapitation (due to it's association with the Mayan rain God Chaac) would have been the most likely. Even then the Mayans would have sacrificed only a couple of people at most, because: 1) The Mayans were human beings and as I said before disliked human sacrifice, there is a poem named Little Arrow that was used to comfort to the victims of the arrow sacrifice (a native Mayan sacrifice technique at that). WhileI cannot speak with certainty I'd say that to the ancient Mayan sacrificing the amount shown in the film would be a tragic and unnecessary action even in times of drought. 2) In the time of the collapse, every life would have counted, it is not like with the Mexica who had neighboring nations full of people they could point to and say "it's alright to kill them en masse, they are inferior to us". The Mayans, while no strangers to believing in one state being better than another, where on a much more level playing field and were all suffering from the collapse. Nearly all captives (including warriors) would have been made into slaves. Even then, why bother raiding a tribe when you could just make them a vessel. Many Mayan tribes would have been attached to a state/chiefdom as the nearby royal family would install a noble to act as a tribal chieftain, called a Batab who would report to the Halach Unik (pretty much a king). Lastly on the subject of sacrifice, the Mayans waged war the same reason as most other cultures: power. Even the Mexica waged more wars to expand their empire than to capture for sacrifice. Mayan warfare was pretty fascinating in that they liked to leave things intact more or less. When a city state was defeated, the city wasn't razed, the lord wasn't always executed and it's people weren't enslaved or slaughtered. It was far more usful to make a fallen city state a vassal rather than exterminate it. Therefore the raid of the village for the sole purpose of capturing people seems unlikly. Lastly, the no one could blame someone for mistaking the time era, the Mayan's simply weren't making cities on the same scale anymore. Fair enough there was construction, and some city states like Uxmal and Chichen Itza remained population centers for quite some time. But overall, to see buildings like that in the postclassic, it wouldn't be likly.
There were still Mayan cities during the time of the Spanish Arrival. You're just assuming it's during the Classic Mayan Collapse. Movie is set in 1502. City was based on Zaculeu.
I always kind of saw this movie as being an amalgam of different times and peoples. Rather than a historical film. I watch it in the same lens as inglorious bastards. The inaccuracies aside I find it to be very unique and a solid film. The story is structured, the technical filmmaking is superb. the characters are solid. The actors are put through a lot. And the baddies are scary as hell. I think its a good movie.
You don’t see the problem with a film maker, changing history and affecting the general public’s view of an entire regions history? 21:12 listen to what he says. This is the problem.
I just watched the movie, thought it was awesome. The ending was hilarious though (made zero sense indeed) and there were numerous other moments that I was highly skeptical of. so after the movie did some reading and also just landed here on this very informative video. I don't place that kind of blame on Mel Gibson, if you want to learn something about history you should hit the books and not watch exciting action movies. 100% will watch and enjoy again.
@@tumsfestival8027 Nah, I don't. People who watch anything Hollywood makes that expect to reasonably 'learn' anything are rubes, and will essentially believe anything. If it wasn't Mel, it would be someone else. If you watch a cinema blockbuster thinking you're in HIST203, your brain is already mush. I hate Hollywood as much as any reasonable person, but the gullibility of the masses isn't Hollywood's fault.
You're right I feel this man doesn't understand the movie or the history. I feel the smallpox scene is a sign that the Europeans are starting to arrive. They didnt all show up in one day .
Yeah i thought that too but unfortunately they speak the same language. And that’s simply not possibile. Each tribe had (and still has) a completely different language. If they spoke the same, they knew each other, and if they knew each other, they would have lived differently
Me as an Artist: Movie has a great Cinematography, production, good story Etc. Nick - History Buffs / Normal / RU-vidr people: Meh, inaccurate this, inaccurate that. YEY! CONTENT!
re: the smallpox part. You see the spanish ship approaching anchored at sea at the end of the movie. And there's no reason that has to be the FIRST spanish ship that's arrived there. So that little girl definitely could have had smallpox.
It's a movie, chill. There were many things the locals had they did not understand how to deal with. Apaches cut flesh off and other things in order to maybe "receive" a vision quest. No one really knows and as Woody said, "You are a toy". Ease up. Ok Paco loco, suavesito.
Nah cause the spanish were still 600 years out from arrival. This really is a case of Gibson taking all the flashiest bits of history in the yucatan peninsula and his imagination and fusing them for one racist shmorgishborg that appropraites native history to develop a narrative that excuses white settlers.
The movie’s biggest problem is that it combines the events of the collapse of the classic Maya in the 10th century and the twilight of the Maya in the 16th century with the arrival of smallpox and the Spanish. If they simply focused events from one setting, the movie would be fairly accurate.
Although most of the famous cities were abandoned in the Post-classic era, wealthy cities and marketplaces still existed when the spanish arrived, yes there's maybe a bit of dramatic license taken in making it look more like a peak mayan city, but as the viewer you're supposed to be seeing the events through the eyes of a bewildered villager from a hunter gatherer tribe who has never seen any sort of city or society of that magnitude. There are some things that aren't optimal from a historical standpoint, but it's supposed to have a greater symbolic meaning beyond just being a hyperrealistic historical depiction. Just my two cents.
I actually really love this movie, despite all the inaccuracies. Also, I think small tribes such as Jaguar Paw's did in fact exist. They couldn't have all been uniformly Agricultural based, as there were various tribes living throughout the Yucatan and surrounding regions, all with various lifestyles and cultures both similar and different to the Mayans.
tallaganda83 If they were then there would have been no isolated tribes in the Yucatán. Again, there was a Mayan city every twenty miles you walked (that may be a slight exaggeration). Look up a map of Mayan cities and you’ll see.
The small pox girl was obviously a prophetic scene, she even predicts the coming of the Spanish. its pretty obvious what the writers were trying to portray.
It was in fact very often the case, that people died of smallpox and the other old world diseases before ever meeting the Spanish. The diseases travelled faster than the Spanish, which then found ghost villages full of dead people. Although of course not before the first Spanish landed.
@Mason Freer If we assume that the ships are the forth travel of columbus (the time he really landed in yucatan) there could be a small chance that smallpax from the first three travels reached this city. Although this is not too important, as in my eyes it is clearly an artistic choice to shortly show the phenomenon of the fast travelling diseases as well as another facett of a crumbleing society.
@@connorbranscombe6819 "considering no one mentions its a prophecy" omg do movies need to fucking spell shit out for you? I don't know if you noticed but this movie doesn't spell anything out for you, at all. Nothing is explained. The viewer need to figure out what is going on by paying attention to the visuals. Why can't she be physical? Who made the rule that a prophecy/omen/vision-of-the-future needs to be only visual/audible? If something supernatural can happen that makes you see the future then why couldn't it be interacted with? I really don't understand. Other movies have interactions between real/physical people and ghost/spirits/etc so why can't this one? Where can i find the rule book that you read that everything super natural in movies need to be immaterial. And even if it was just a hallucination, you can "hallucinate" sensations too. Your vision and hearing isn't the only thing that can hallucinate.
Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
@@codypainter3905 Did you watch this movie because of the story, OR because it was directed by Mel Gibson? In other words are you interested in the history of the country's culture that was being represented or were you simply interested because it was a Mel Gibson film?
Dude goes on a whole rant about how “inaccurate” the mayan village is at the beginning when… it wasn’t even a mayan village, it was some random neighboring tribe 😂
@@jeffersonparsons5519 based on the fact that the little girl spoke in a manner that no child, not even a child prodigy, would speak in. Not sure if you have kids or not, but 5 year olds aren't exactly prophetic speakers, and they certainly aren't going to say things like "Do you want to know how you're going to die?" then give you some trippy omen description of your death. It would be more like "You wanna know how you die, poopie, you die of poopie face. giggle".
I would love to see a historical movie ive never seen with him as long as he's quite and then we could talk about it over some couple of beers. TEACH ME!!!! Also, if ive seen it, then go ahead and pause the movie to tell me about the scenes
im confused about your issue with the small pox scene. it was never implied that the mayans had not had contact with the europeans. the fact that we see a ship at the end just means that a ship was there. that doesnt make it the first one.