Even assholes make great films
Mel Gibson proved incontrovertiny that he’s a racist bigot, but that doesn’t mean we should write off his films, argues a leading London-based film critic.
y shooting straight to number one at the US box
office. knocking the singing penguin cartoon
Happy I’ve! off the top spot and earning more in its first week of~ release than either the star-laden rom- com The Holiday or the Bond movie Casino Royale. it‘s fair to say Mel Gibson‘s new film. Apomlypto. has been a commercial triumph. And while some hacks have been put off by the film‘s graphic blood and gore. rlpr)(‘(l/_\‘/)l() is enjoying critical success too. with very lavourable reviews in. for example. the American entertainment bible Variety. which labelled the film ‘remarkable‘. and the evergreen hipster magazine Rolling Stone. which described Gibson's latest as ‘tremendously exciting‘.
Almmlvpto‘s commercial success is the very definition of triumph against all the odds. Gibson lilmcd his story which takes place during the dying days of' the ancient Mayan empire. in the local lingo and he translates the dialogue with subtitles — generally box olfice poison in the US. Furthermore. Apomlypro's cast of Native American and Mexican actors boasts no star names. the absence of which usually severely limits at film's money- making potential. And then there is the spectre of Gibson's recent anti-semitic outburst during a drunk driving arrest. which most f'aux of pas in the States continues to hover over the man.
For these reasons. media commentators have been surprised at Apomlypto‘s commercial triumph. Failing to predict the film‘s fortunes is understandable enough — Gibson himself has voiced his surprise at Apocalypto‘s good fortune — but what‘s less comprehensible is that some critics appear to be ot~ the opinion that Gibson doesn't deserve success. and worryingly. that he perhaps shouldn‘t be allowed it. Writing in the Guardian's GZ supplement on l3 December. Lucy Mangan expresses her rather snit't‘y opinion of Gibson‘s success thus: "l’his has come as a surprise to most. who had supposed that Gibson had fallen well below even the notoriously lax moral standards ot~ l-lollywood and irrevocably damaged his career with his recent and well-publicised anti-semitic rant at a police officer while drunk. Fortunately for Gibson. it seems that we are becoming inured to almost anything our stars can throw at us.‘
There's no denying that Gibson‘s assertion. 'The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world’ is offensive and irresponsible. and just plain stoopid. being l‘actually incon‘ect. It's quite right that Gibson should be brought to book for what he said. But should Gibson the filmmaker be criticised for what Gibson the man said'.’ And should his film be shunned by the public. as was predicted (evidently incorrectly) by some Hollywood insiders in advance ot‘ its release‘.’
01‘ course not. on both counts. Who cares if artists are assholes‘.’ You don't hear anyone saying. ‘That Pablo Picasso treated women abominably. Who cares how
10 THE LIST 4' 18 Jan 2007
CRITICS APPEAR TO THINK THAT GIBSON SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED SUCCESS
popular. influential and gorgeous his paintings are. Let‘s boycott the new exhibition.. Nor do you hear poetry lovers declaring. ‘lt doesn‘t matter that lizra Pound was a driving force behind several art movements including lmagism and Voiticism. lie was an anti-semite who wrote propaganda l‘or Mussolini during World War ll. who broadcast such tracks as. “The big Jew has rotted liVliRY nation he has wormed into". and who was locked up by the Americans after the war. Let's bum his books.‘
Why should it be any dil‘l’erent l'or Gibson‘.’ Because he‘s a filmmaker? ll' displaying llawless morality was the criterion for appreciating filmmakers and enjoying their films. we‘d have to strike hall' ol~ them from cinema history. ()ut would go the entire animation oeuvre overseen by that paternal authoritarian Walt Disney. We'd also have to junk T/IU .S'mi'i'livrx and all the other genre- del‘ining westerns starring that old xenophobe .lohn Wayne. plus Ben Mar and the best of Hollywood‘s historical epics embodied by the late gun- loving National Rille Association card- cai‘rier (‘harlton lleston. As the sell- proclaimed reactionary filmmaker John Milius (Dirty Harry. .llugniim I-oi'i'i'. Apocalypse Now) once noted: 'llollywood is largely populated with varying degrees ol~ rcactionaries’.
Gibson‘s problem is he’s still alive and living in the modern era of celebrity. And
celebrity the media most loves to sink its
teeth into. So Gibson's got to pay his penance. But while he‘s doing that we shouldn‘t lose sight of the notion that artists behaving badly should be neither here nor there when it comes to appreciating their works ol‘ an. I )isugrm'l’ Write to ('(litortrflisten/(k.
Apocalypto is on general release from Fri 6 Jan.
I lhe day after writing the above. news bloke that i-i'eirch actor Sariin Nacei'i, who won a best actoi pit/e in Cannes last May for the film hid/genes, has been imprisoned for six months for racial/y abusing a black police officer in a case not (lissiiiii/ai' to Gibson Looks like Mel 's getting off light/y.
being a movie star makes him the kind ol
PLUCKlNG FRUITS FROM THE CULTURAL BUSH
I Oprah Winfrey will be taking some very long. very deep breaths at news that Kitty Kelley is working on a book about the broadcasting queen's life. After all. the controversial biographer got the world into a flap over her books about Frank Sinatra ia philanderiiig mobster) and Nancy Reagan tan astrology fiend With a taste for more than just Sinatra's lTiLlSlCl. and as Kelley begins her intensive research for the unauthorized work. Oprah will be intismg over some serious hibernation . . . Ed Harris has been added to the cast of upcoming thriller l'he Cleaner which already sta s Samuel L Jackson as a man who mops up crime scenes. Harris plays the detective involved in one crime scene mystery which leaves Jackson as a Suspect. Renny Harlin is directing . . . After his well- deserveo success at the British Comedy Awards last month. word is up that Stephen Merchant is pondering a return to the standviip scene he left before The Office j()l) took up too much of his time . . . After a busy old 2006. Irvine Welsh is hard at it on two new books. The first. due Out in August. is a bunch of short stories under the title of It You Liked School. Yeti 'll Love Work while the second. entitled Crime. is planned for publication in late 2008 . . . Less of an enjoyable prospect is more Ant and Dec on Saturday night telly. This summer they will front Britain's Got Talent. another Simon Cowell brainwave borrowed from America which has everyone from singers to fire-eaters trying to impress Cowell and his co~iudges David Hasselhotf and Piers Morgan. Save our souls.