smoker
Striker
Gibson is an arch Roman Catholic [his dad doesn't accept Vatican II and I doubt Mel does either].
Most folk consider the conquistadors and their forced conversions/genocides to be a not very nice thing.
To me, the whole film is an attempt to portray the arrival of the RCC as a good thing by showing how horrible the locals were before the arrival of the missionaries.
Spot on. It's a really enthralling film but spoilt by the ultra-conservative Catholic subtext. Gibson could have easily kept with historical accuracy and depicted the Aztecs practicing mass human sacrifice and indiscriminate slavery but chose to besmirch the Mayans instead - why? Maybe because people generally accept the Aztecs were savage, but the Mayans were a people wronged.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061208-apocalypto-mel_2.html
If it isn't some ultra-Catholic subtext, it's his anti-English agenda. I am really looking forward to his Viking film but fear it will be spoiled by the latter.