Other mistake: When Jaguar Paw is running to reach the corn to escape and gets knocked down by an arrow; Middle Eye was about to whack him when Blunted intervened. You can hear Middle Eye say in English "Get off me!" while he's being held back. (01:27:52)
Apocalypto (2006)
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Starring: Gerardo Taracena, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead, Raoul Trujillo, Rudy Youngblood
Factual error: During the big sacrifice scene an eclipse happens. An eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun. Later, apparently that night, the night mood is set by a shot of a full moon. The moon cannot be full until fourteen days after an eclipse, when it is directly opposite the sun.
Continuity mistake: At the first few scenes of the film the natives are shown with dark, broken and corroded teeth. Halfway through the movie the main cast show pearly white teeth.
Trivia: As a bit of an easter-egg, Mel Gibson included a single-frame of an actor dressed as Wally/Waldo from the "Where's Wally/Waldo?" book series in the theatrical version of the film. It was reportedly seen as being in poor taste, so it was removed from the initial DVD release. However, he was allegedly added back into the film for the Blu-Ray release.
Flint Sky: Those people in the forest, what did you see on them?
Jaguar Paw: I do not understand.
Flint Sky: Fear. Deep rotting fear. They were infected by it. Did you see? Fear is a sickness. It will crawl into the soul of anyone who engages it. It has tainted your peace already. I did not raise you to see you live with fear. Strike it from your heart. Do not bring it into our village.
Jaguar Paw: Resting fathers, fly me your strength.
Jaguar Paw: I am Jaguar Paw! This is my forest! My sons and their sons will hunt here after I am gone.
Question: Is Blunted Jaguar Paw's brother? Jaguar Paw refers to him as brother and it seems they are brothers, but Flint Sky does not refer to him as his son.
Answer: Jaguar Paw calls him father just before his throat is cut.
He calls Flint Sky Father because we know that relationship by the time he is killed.
Question: Can anyone explain the necklaces? Before Flint Sky is killed and before Jaguar Paw is sent out to run for his life, the Mayan warrior removes the necklaces they wear. When the warrior is bitten by the snake, he removes his own necklace before cutting his wrists. This happens several times in the movie so it seems like removing the necklace before facing death is significant. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Answer: It's a sign of the warrior passing over to death. When the warrior removed Jaguar Paw's necklace just before setting him free, it was a way of telling him that his life was going to be over soon.
Question: When they come across the girl crying over her mother's body, one of the guards says she has the sickness, and when they arrive in the city, they come across an old man who has the laughing sickness - what sicknesses are they referring to?
Answer: It is not specifically identified, but it appears to be the degenerative neurological disease called kuru. It is fatal and believed to have been spread in ancient sub-tropical cultures by cannibalism. Its symptoms resembles the encephalopathy disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Mad Cow), which is also called the laughing sickness, and is contracted by eating contaminated flesh.
Answer: Kuru only happens when you eat your relatives and the disease was discovered and studied in Papua New Guinea where eating your dead relatives was a way to carry them with you. There are books about it, fascinating stuff. Eating strangers is safe, not that I recommend eating anyone. The disease the girl has is smallpox brought by the Spanish, thus the ships at the end of the movie are not the first Spanish to visit the area. The laughing sickness could be straight up madness considering the horrible times everyone is living through, or a side effect of the limestone quarrying.
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Chosen answer: They are extremely close friends. They regard their relationship as being as close as family.
Phixius ★