I lay awake thinking
about things I've never
done,
or said,
And now
I see you
laying awake in the cold bed,
alone, scared
and unsure.
I'm here for you,
right beside this bed,
holding your hand.
To show how much
I love you.

To my most beloved,
my painter, my muse.
My dear Einar,
I love you
as I always have.
How beautiful you are in a dress.
You are the most
beautiful lady,
your beauty surpasses
even mine.
Your scarf around my neck,
how it warms me as you do.
I hope you become who you truly are,
and want to be.
I love you,
my dear Lili.

There he sat
on his tamed stallion
overviewing the Ghetto,
seeing the people
shot down like dogs.
The blood spilling
all over the
black and white streets.
The red of innocence runs away,
to hide from the
Deutsche,
only to be lost in fire.

‘Apocalypto’ is a film set in a Maya civilisation and consists of a story that takes place in one tribe and how a passing tribe affects them to a degree of destruction. The story unfolds in a linear way of storytelling which is basic but still effective. From director Mel Gibson, the director of ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Passion of the Christ’. An underrated director of sorts but a great one nonetheless. Overlooked due to his acting career, he has been holding back on us as a director.

The characters are set to be living a Mayan life and go about their days behaving as such but are rather generous and civilized for such an old race of people. They live peacefully and secluded until they interact with another tribe which brings about their downfall. And the way in which a Mayan civilization might go about solving problem as common as a natural disaster. Through sacrifices to the God's as a way to solve problems and mass results. Very accurate to the Mayan culture as well as the entire movie taking place without one word of English, all dialogue being said in the Mayan language. Another credit to the film.

The directing style for this film is beautiful and flawless to say the least. No shaky cam used or hand held cam either. All fluent movement of the camera to create a great story, one that flows naturally. The use of camera angles is creative and different, using tilted angles to convey a certain mood and straight framed shots to convey another mood.

The performances stand out as a huge positive, the actors who I have honestly never heard of give Oscar worthy performances. Mel Gibson uses unknown actors as not to compromise the film by the status of the actors. These actors and actresses give a hard performance based on body language and quiet moments, the enduring task of learning to be emotional through a foreign language. Which is why I would guess Mel Gibson used local actors who are more aware of the Mayan language than American actors.

The set design is truly Oscar worthy in this film. The Mayan temples and tribe lands are captured perfectly in the sets for this film. Well build and suited towards the amazon environment. As well as good filming locations, using the wonders of the amazon rainforest as an advantage.

In final thoughts, I believe that Mel Gibson is a stunning director with an eye for detail and a beautiful visual director. A director that can produce great work. ‘Apocalypto’ to me in the near future will become a period piece masterpiece. A tale of survival and dedication that will live on through the ages.

Rating: Film - 8.4
Personal - 8.9

As a member of the human race I question almost anything in existence. Answers to questions we don't even know to ask yet. We all used to look up at the sky and wonder about our place in the stars. Now we sit, living in our own *******, wondering about our place in the dirt. The beauty of our planet lost in our desire to create, to innovate and to further evolve our civilisation.

Now we survive in the ruins we have left behind. The greatest landmarks of all time, now a simple lost memory people share as if part of fiction. Religion, a subject long since lost with the world we had and often blamed for our destruction. We await a moment of divine intervention, where an almighty being sends down his hand to guide us, the surviving humans on planet Earth.

It is at this stage, the ****** of our existence, where we as a united planet are ready to change our ways, to adapt and forget our modern view on humanity.

The Monolith. We stand looking into the sky, half our vision blocked by an object. An object of which has no origin. But some claim is responsible for the survival of our species. Bringing back love, compassion and above all, an appreciation for life. We live on now, saved by an object of God's design or a random occurrence. The way of religion is our savior, we live on now as if the past was a story we tell our children to scare them at night.

We now live on, life without end. But the thought of our past haunts our future.

1938

I was a free man, sitting on a porch, over looking the sunset, with a cup of coffee in my right hand and my left hand over my darling wife. My children playing in the garden, playing in the dirt.  The perfect life as I knew it .A good job, supper each night with my family, our daily prayers together, something I overlooked at the time is now something I crave.  

1944

I lift my head slowly and open my eyes to the sight of tired soldiers, crumpled together in a small aircraft. Waiting to either go home or die in battle. One soldier throws up in front of me, a gross scene that now seems so normal. The aircraft door opens and within seconds, half the soldiers, my friends are dead, blood covers the craft as I run out and see nothing but chaos and destruction. One soldier lays there on the ground, his large glasses full of dirt, he is only 19, he is screaming.  A scream that I will never forget, his holding his stomach and blood flows out like a river on the sand, his inners laying beside him, him still screaming. I look up and see a white flash in front of me.

I hear music, a gentle yet strong tune that carries me as I lean upwards and try to stand, I can't. I wipe my eyes and look. I see red sand in front of me as I can't feel my legs. My Major runs for me and looks at me with a stare of empathy, he knows, he knows i'm not going home. I've never liked to ask God for help but now I pray in silence waiting, waiting to be taken home. Not this honours but in a body bag.

Why are we here?
What is our purpose?
Who created us?

These questions might one day be as common to us as the sun rising or the hours in a day. The answers to some of the most complicated questions could be hidden in the void of a black hole or as plain as the nose on our face. Whichever the case might be, can we handle the reality of these answers, or might they appear as a dream to us. Could they not be what we want or the scary part, might the answers be exactly what we want.

It is a Sunday morning today, I can hear the cars leaving for church, the bells ringing constantly. To make the day seem more memorable to me, as I write this two Jehovah's Witnesses walk up to my front door and ring the bell. I stare as if in shock, but truly I cannot relate to them anymore as I once could. I looked down on them my whole life, they were truly the glue in my family and now I sit without my family, my child to grow up without grandparents.

God?

A person, an idol of fiction and religion. A creature a person would only hear about on a Sunday. Now I find myself staring in the face of my God, questioning the motives on which the universe was created, curious for answers of which my mind cannot compromise.

I stare up at evolution and ask myself why i'm here?

I sit with my wife and child at breakfast, my wife insists we pray before we eat and so we do. I feel a volcano erupt within me as I allow the prayer she is giving to enter my body, my soul and as a virus, consume my mind.