# apocalypto question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813 "2012-01-27T03:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813/1 "2012-01-27T03:05:52Z")
Just saw this again for the umpteenth time, and I noticed something I never saw before. In the scene where they are marching back as captives, a tree falls down and almost crushes a few of the groups of prisoners. But they slow down the film briefly, and show a few humans in the back, behind the tree, moving slowly away. Almost like it was an attempt at killing either the captors or the captured. Anyone else notice it, and does it have any meaning to the picture at all? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813/2 "2012-01-27T22:46:10Z")
Haven’t noticed that, but just chimed in to say did you catch the expression of the child when his mother lifted up her new baby out of the water. That is a powerful scene. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813/3 "2012-01-28T00:52:24Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Just saw this again for the umpteenth time, and I noticed something I never saw before. In the scene where they are marching back as captives, a tree falls down and almost crushes a few of the groups of prisoners. > > But they slow down the film briefly, and show a few humans in the back, behind the tree, moving slowly away. Almost like it was an attempt at killing either the captors or the captured. > > Anyone else notice it, and does it have any meaning to the picture at all? Haven’t seen the film in a while, but I thought that a group of workers were cutting down the tree and the fact that it fell in the path of the warriors was just bad timing. I think the only significance to this scene is to add to the environmentalist message: the Mayans are stripping their land, which will lead to their eventual downfall. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813/4 "2012-01-28T04:03:35Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Haven’t noticed that, but just chimed in to say did you catch the expression of the child when his mother lifted up her new baby out of the water. That is a powerful scene. I love that scene. Turtles Run was a great little actor, my favorite kid actor in a long time. That scene is so realistic, the eyes on Turtles Run were perfect. Most of what I’ve read about the casting of Apocalypto was that most of the parts were done by natives… don’t know about Turtles Run, but that little girl with the “disease” that predicts their downfall and the jaguar, was just a find where they were shooting. Pretty lucky. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-question/610813/5 "2012-01-28T04:05:47Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Haven’t seen the film in a while, but I thought that a group of workers were cutting down the tree and the fact that it fell in the path of the warriors was just bad timing. I think the only significance to this scene is to add to the environmentalist message: the Mayans are stripping their land, which will lead to their eventual downfall. could be. I never thought of it that way. my first thought was that it was a sinister action of some sort, by a group of people that were trying to drop that tree on the others. But that doesn’t make too much sense, since that tree would have taken forever to cut through. No way could they have timed it or predicted where it would fall.