Tapir's testicle, anyone? They're not quite the delicacy the playful warriors claim as they tease one of their pals, but it's illustrative of the nature of the relationship between these young Mayan tribesmen who, thus far, have found their greatest fear emanating from a menacing mother-in-law who is demanding that she gets grandchildren. That all changes when a more dominant war party arrive looking for sacrifices. The shrewd "Jaguar Paw" (Rudy Youngblood) manages to hide his expectant wife and their child in a deep pit, but he is himself taken prisoner by "Zero Wolf" (Raoul Max Trujillo) and removed to the capital - after witnessing his father's slaughter at the hands of "Middle Eye" (Gerarardo Taracena). Once there, in this sight of an almost complete pyramid, they are to be offered to their great god Kulkulkan. It's as if by a divine intervention that this young man is spared, but that mercy is short lived as he merely now becomes the plaything of the warriors. They have one chance of escape, but that only earns him the furious enmity of the powerful 'Zero Wolf" and soon one hell of a cat and mouse game ensues. The photography really does capture the density of the Mexican forests and the Mel Gibson's direction the gruesome and gruelling lives of the young men who lived and died at the behest of the priests. What we are also exposed to is a civilisation teetering on the edge. Disease is rife - hardly surprising when we see the sheer volume of corpses lying around, and amidst all this desperation some of the dialogue is rousing, powerful and sometime quite relaxed too. Many of the actors are genuine tribesmen and some deliver some more than incidental parts quite well, but it's Youngblood, Trujillo and perhaps best of all - Taracena, who make this a grudge match well worth watching. It's sumptuous, this film. Gritty, bloody, violent - but sumptuous. Well worth a watch, and a big screen does great justice to the super cinematography.
