Apocalypto
Mel Gibson’s Controversial Movie
By D.W.

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."
W. Durant - Opening Quote in Apocalypto

Mel Gibson’s new movie Apocalypto begins with this key quote that sets the main theme for the movie, the decline of a civilization is from within. There are many ideas in this film and plenty of gore and action but the main point could easily be missed if this quote didn’t preface the film.

Apocalypto is about the Mayan civilization but the message of the film could very well apply to Western civilization.

This movie takes place when the Mayans fatally come into contact with Europeans. The appearance of Europeans at the end of the movie is rich in symbolism while honing in the point of the film.

The Mayan civilization was in the process of destroying itself; it had become dissolute and unsustainable. The capture of hostages, the destruction of villages, and the human sacrifices symbolized the evil. Much like the Roman Empire, the Mayan’s wrecked havoc and devastation upon their eco-system and culture, dividing society rather than unifying it. In essence, the Mayans destroyed itself and the Europeans merely finished the job.

The culture had weakened itself to the point that they were not able to resist the Europeans once they arrived.

Anthropologist Jared Diamond in his book, Guns, Germs and Steel, makes a forceful argument which is contrary to the message of the movie. His premise is that the Europeans were bound to win anyway because they possessed guns and steel, and they carried germs which the indigenous people of the Americas had no immunity to. Accepting this multicultural thesis, you would have to accept that the Mayans had absolutely no chance against the Westerners regardless of the state of their civilization. His thesis is compelling, but it is not correct.

Although Dr. Diamond’s scientific and historical facts are solid, his understanding of military strategy is flawed and erroneous. Guns and steel gave the Europeans a great tactical advantage, but it is not one that cannot be overcome. In war there are very few obstacles that cannot be defeated especially when a military force is creative and innovative. In all truthfulness, European victory over the Mayans was never inevitable since no victory can be predictable. There are plenty of modern examples to testify to that.

The Mayans and Aztecs could have easily overwhelmed the Europeans if they were organized and properly led to do so. Steel weapons can give the Westerners an advantage against the natives in close combat but they are only as good as the soldier who uses them. Ten natives simultaneously attacking a European soldier would overwhelm him if they acted bravely and in unison.

The guns of the period provided mostly a psychological effect with shock value in the South American conquests and on European battlefields. However, an enormous number of natives armed with bows and spears could have easily surrounded and overwhelmed a tiny contingent of Europeans. And the Westerners could have also been easily picked off without the Mayans ever engaging in close combat.

Germs did give the Europeans a significant strategic advantage by devastating the population of the continent within a couple of hundred years but it can also be argued that if the Europeans had been defeated from the very beginning, exposure to disease would have been very limited. In addition, Europe itself experienced the serious ramifications of foreign organisms brought back from exotic locations.

However, the Mayan civilization was already weak and corrupt long before the Europeans ever arrived, therefore they were completely unable to mount an organized defense. If the Mayans, Aztecs, and other tribes had been better coordinated, more unified, and organized with better communications they could have overwhelmed the few hundred Europeans very early on before they could mass in meaningful numbers. But as history often repeats itself, the indigenous people of the Americas distrusted and despised each other.

Now Mel Gibson is a devout Catholic and he is drawing the inescapable comparisons about the decline of the Mayans with the current decline of Western Judeo-Christian civilization. Many people already feel that the West is rapidly deteriorating and it seems as if our societies now run counter to what made Western civilization great.

In addition, Europe itself is quickly changing because it is being overwhelmed by Muslim immigrants who are not assimilating while Europeans are having too few or no children.

Although Western nations have not sacrificed people to pagan gods as the Mayans and Aztecs did, humanistic philosophies have done much worse. Marxism, fascism, and moral relativism are all ideologies developed from the Enlightenment that deny the fundamental precepts of Judeo-Christian thought. The greatest massacres in history arise from humanistic belief systems that deny God’s existence and allow for all types of perversions.

With no God and no religious morality to interfere, men like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and others can become gods in themselves and create their own moral systems that allow for the purge of millions of political opponents. By the way, the aspirations of the Spanish explorers were also a perversion from Christian faith and is in no way condoned by Christian thought. But more to the point, humanistic philosophies embrace moral relativism, which means man can make any moral rule he wants, regardless of how baseless it is.

Even though Apocalypto has many other concurrent themes, such as survival against all odds and determination in the face of adversity, the central message of societal collapse is the chilling foreshadowing of what is to come if we keep weakening Western civilization. Perhaps the Chinese will finish us off as the Europeans finished off the civilizations of Central and South America.

Any opinions or views expressed herein belong solely to the author and does not represent any employer, organization, political party, governmental agency, or any other entity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owner or its participants.