Mel Gibson's Apocalypto Message

Mel Gibson on a Mission

Mel Gibson, actor, director, and movie producer has again moved into the broadcast, print and Internet media's focal point with his latest film Apocalypto "A great civilization is not conquered from without...until it has been destroyed from within." Quite a quote for a movie poster  and for the script co-written by Farhad Safinia. This Touchstone Picture is rated 'R' for sequences of graphic violence and disturbing images.

Mel Gibson is making his second film in a row that does not have English as the  language that is spoken among the actors portraying the protagonists in a clash of civilizations. Is this a contrivance that he uses to lend authenticity to his productions? Would it take anything away from the drama to have the characters speak in a language that would enable the audience to understand fully what is developing  between  them?

The purpose of a film is to communicate the filmmakers story.  Symbolism is appreciated by graduate film students more than by the average moviegoer. Keeping in mind that in recent years they were becoming more "movie-not-goers" than the recent revival in box-office grosses would indicate. Although Mel Gibson's The Passion was a tremendous moneymaker, Americans were familiar with the backstory as it is part of their cultural heritage. It could be said that the audience brought the familiar theme of the greatest story ever told with them to the theater.

How is the story of the Maya people in Apocalypto to be told so that Mel Gibson's message is fully revealed?
Cinematographer Dean Semler(Dances With Wolves) utilizes the new digital camera system, Genesis by Panavision to graphically illustrate the rituals of human sacrifice that the Mayan Rulers used to keep their world motivated.  

Jaguar Paw, Rudy Youngblood, 25, a Comanche/Cree from Texas, escape through the rain forest is vividly filmed, is this  symbolic for the struggle for survival that Mel Gibson envisions for his own society?