DBC Pierre - The Last Aztec

[Cognito]

... and participate in that american fad of shortening words down to one syllable

Huh?

[War Arrow]

So, War Arrow, why don't you start a new thread that deals with your concerns or interests abut Mexico? What's on your mind?

Quite a lot as it happens. Although I haven't really even finished formulating the questions yet. By the way, I know I can be a bit one-note at times. If anybody thinks I'm diverting topics too much please say so. I don't want to seem like I'm trying to take over. My archaeo/anthropo/historical knowledge runs very deep but it ain't what you'd call broad, although Marduk's got me buying books about Sumeria which has to be healthy.
Anyway, in the meantime, that news item posted today says Mel G has done the entire film in Yucatec Mayan which I think bodes well. That certainly shows the sort of dedication that suggests he's going to try and get his facts straight.

[Minimalist]

Mel G has done the entire film in Yucatec Mayan

He did Passion of the Christ in Aramaic and it was annoying as hell.

[stan]

I'm pretty sure we are finally going to be able to get a pretty good idea of what Mayan human sacrifice and heart removal were like in Apocalypto, after wondering about it for all these years....

[War Arrow]

Hopefully this won't sound like I'm some sort of variation on a third reich apologist, but I hope it won't just be two hours of innards all over the screen. They turned out some nice sculpture and had other things going for them. Then again how realistic would it be to expect an epic blockbuster following the exploits of a young Mayan as he struggles to mix the right shade of pigment for a mural?

Must admit I didn't see The Passion of the Christ.

[Minimalist]

Must admit I didn't see The Passion of the Christ.

Don't bother.

[Beagle]

Forgot to add-it's a film about The Mayans
http://apocalypto.movies.go.com/

To add another from the news section:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06309/735120-254.stm

[Frank Harrist]

I wonder who the technical and cultural consultants will be. Does he have any Maya experts helping or is he just winging it?

[War Arrow]

I wonder who the technical and cultural consultants will be. Does he have any Maya experts helping or is he just winging it?

Well, if it's all in Yucatec Mayan I guess he must be using genuine Mayan actors, and I get the impression these people are (justifiably) very sensitive about how their culture is portrayed. Plus the great thing about most Mexicans (I base this on news items and some personal experience)is that when they're pissed off they really aren't afraid of letting everybody know.
Mind you, I too would be curious about who helped out with the background and suchlike.

[Sam Salmon]

Mexico has a huge film industry, sadly little worth watching has been done for 40 years now.

[War Arrow]

Mexico has a huge film industry, sadly little worth watching has been done for 40 years now.

I don't know. Y Tu Mama Tambien was supposed to be pretty good and La Otra Conquista (http://www.theotherconquest.com) is in my top five of all time. Can't claim anything much from the British film industry. I've seen some late night no-one watching channel Mexican films from the fifties and sixties which were beyond belief, completely apeshit - they made the Marx Brothers films look like documentaries. Wish I'd made a note of remembering the names.

[War Arrow]

DBC Pierre's The Last Aztec (Channel 4 9/11/06). I don't know how many people in here are UK residents and hence likely to have seen it, but here goes...
Well, it was quite enjoyable providing you didn't go in expecting too much history. I suppose you'd call it gonzo history (see Hunter S. Thompson's Curse of Lono thing) seeing as DBC seemed to be half-cut throughout all two booze-sodden hours. The first half hour followed the trail of Cortez the "adventurer" (I wish people would stop calling him that, although I grant you it scans better than "gold-hungry f*ckface") from the landing at Veracruz to the fall of Tenochtitlan. We got all the usual discredited gubbins about prophecies of bearded whitey coming from the east, Cortez as the reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl, blood, death, more death, great big bags full of death with skulls on the side, Deathy Mc Death and the death of death etc... plus the puzzling omission of any mention of Tlaxcala (the conquest wouldn't have happened without Tlaxcalan help) but I suppose it makes for a good yarn.
DBC spent the last half hour engaging Otomis in various chicken-powered ritual sacrifices to Motecuhzoma. This was some sort of take on 'Aztec magic', which is kind of like extrapolating a picture of how people used to live in New York by hanging out with hillbillies, but never mind. By the time it got to toes dipped into rural folklore, the point of the programme finally stood up and made itself known. It's not quite history, not quite cultural anthropolgy, more in the line of DBC Pierre - Aztecs - A Personal Voyage. In that context, it was reasonably compelling as the presenter stumbled, belched, drank and smoked his way through said personal voyage. No great insights, but nonetheless an interesting perspective.
I like DBC Pierre. He's good for business. His history is no worse than that of Michael Wood (who purports to do that sort of programme for real) and he at least gives you enough to suggest it might be worth getting interested in the subject. At the first mention of 'ancient prophecies' I was groaning, recalling what some of you have said about The Naked Archaeologist, but it turned out okay, if not quite what I expected.
Anyone else see it?

[Minimalist]

British programs usually show up a few months later over here. I'll keep an eye open for it.

[Leona Conner]

WA, thanks for the review. I was going to respond to your previous post about it not being just be two hours of innards all over the screen. I have been to Mexico City many times (back many years) and loved it. I'm pretty sick of all the programs about the Aztecs going on and on about their religion and human sacrifice. They had to have had a pretty high level of intelligence to build a city on the lake and build a viaduct to get water down to it and all the rest. Too bad they don't spend more time telling us about that part of their culture and not just the bloody part. They built temples and palaces to match anything anywhere else, but they don't seem to want to talk about that. THEN there's their rock carvings, I mean all their pictographs were carved in rock. They were truly amazing.

[Minimalist]

Blood sells.