Apocalypto

In the very beginning, this Mayan tribe that Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is a part of, is hunting a wild boar. Together with other tribemate, his father, and his brother, then force this pig into a trap that slams spikes into the boar. As they are celebrating the kill, another tribe wanders by only asking for permission to pass. The presumed leader of that passing tribe warns Jaguar Paw that they are fleeing because their campsite was invaded.

On the way back to camp, Jaguar Paw's father warns Jaguar Paw that he saw the fear in his eyes when they were told that the other tribe's camp was invaded. The father gives Jaguar Paw a pep talk about not having fear. That night, the tribe gathers together to hear the elders give a spiritual talk that Jaguar Paw really takes to heart. The next morning, Jaguar Paw, and his wife who is visible pregnant, are awoken by a loud barking dog. When the dog stops barking (because it was killed by an invading tribe) Jaguar Paw becomes suspicious why the dog stopped barking. He sees an invading tribe member with a torch run by and he wakes up his wife and son and they begin to run for cover as the invading tribe kills many men and rape the women while leaving the children unharmed.

Jaguar Paw takes his wife and son to a cave and lowers them into it for safety. An invading tribesman sees Jaguar Paw at the top of the cave and begins to charge to try and kill him. Jaguar Paw fights back and kills him. Even though his wife begs and pleads with him to climb down and be safe, Jaguar Paw's pride takes over and says that he has to help the others and he promises he'll be back. He manages to take out a guy or two, and just as he's about to kill another, the headmaster of the invading tribe stops the fighting. All the men and women of Jaguar Paw's tribe is taken prisoner. Jaguar Paw's father is killed right in front of him after Jaguar Paw accidentally reveals to the invading tribe who his father was. This one member of the invading tribe, seemingly the second in command, takes a liking to Jaguar Paw and deems his new name as "Almost" signifying that Jaguar Paw "almost" killed that guy.

The men and women are sent on a death march to the invading tribe's home camp. Jaguar Paw sees the presumed headmaster of the tribe that was asking for permission to pass earlier in the movie, has also been taken prisoner. Along the way, the run into a little girl who is believed by the tribe to be diseased. When she is denied help, she forewarns and foreshadows that the invading tribe will decline at the hands of a man who knows the jungle and that day will turn into night. When they get to the new camp, the women are sold as slaves and the men are forced to walk up this temple to be used as sacrifices.

Jay Holla

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.

5thgroup

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Jaguar Paw: Resting fathers, fly me your strength.

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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.

TedStixon

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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.

raywest

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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