Popul Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya (1987)

The Popol Vuh is a historic document that explains the creation story of the Mayan people. The film Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya uses illustrations taken from Maya artifacts and puts them to animation in order to bring the tale to life.

The film covers several significant events. The events include the creation of the world, the creation of humans, the creation of animals, and the consequences that ensue.

The creation of humans begins with a few failed attempts. The gods, Heart of Sky and Heart of Earth, first create a race of beings that turn out to be respectful worshipers but are unable to reproduce and are destroyed by the gods as a result. The second group the gods make are made of wood without hearts or minds and they too are destroyed.

Throughout the film, various explanations are given as to why certain animals possess certain traits. We learn that the dark lords split owls mouths as punishment. The toad got its sloped back from being pushed on to forcibly spit out a louse. And rabbits lost their tails as a result of people trying to catch them.
We are also given an account of a very important ball game.
To learn more about the Mesoamerican ball game, check out this link: http://www.ancient.eu/article/604/   One day One Death and the lords of Xibalba, heard the sound of a rubber ball and sent owl to bring the ball players down to the Underworld to play against them. Two brothers, One Hunter and Seven Hunter, arrived to challenge the dark lords. The brothers were outwitted by the lords and were humiliated. The dark lords had the losers sacrificed.

The head of one of the Hunters hung in a tree that became alive and began to sprout. The tree was found by Blood Moon, daughter of a lord of Xibalba. She becomes impregnated with the sons of One Hunter and Seven Hunter. She then climbs to earth and gives birth to Hunter and Jaguar Deer, who grow up to avenge their fathers' deaths. 

On their quest of revenge against lords of the Underworld, Hunter and Jaguar Deer are faced with the Trials of Xibalba. However, they are able to overcome each obstacle put in their way. Eventually the brothers play a rematch ball game against the Dark Lords, but this time the humans are able to defeat their opponents via trickery. Despite their victory, the Lords of the Underworld kill the willing human brothers, throwing their bodies into a river. The bodies of Hunter and Jaguar Deer regenerate themselves and ultimately come back to sacrifice One Death and Seven Death in a final triumph for the brothers.
                                       
  A clip from the film:

 

The filmmaker, Patricia Amlin, seems to be taking an objective point of view in the retelling of this story. I would say that her primary goal in making this film is to inform viewers of a Consequently, the film's perspective is mainly intellectual but visionary at the same time.

 

Some things that I noticed in the film that caught my attention was the very prevalent use of trickery by the characters. This could indicate that trickery and wits were qualities held in high esteem by the Maya. Another thing that stuck out was the significance placed on Xmucane, which translates to "Our Grandmother." For this influential role to be portrayed as a female shows that Mayan also thought somewhat highly of women.

Another interesting thing I discovered while watching this film is the parallels the Maya creation stories shares with other religions more applicable in today's world, such as Judaism and Christianity. One such similarity is that the Popol Vuh mentions a destructive flood sent by the gods. Another is that Blood Moon disobeys and goes to the forbidden tree where she is impregnated by One Hunter/Seven Hunter. The grown sons that Blood Moon gives birth to are sacrificed then later resurrect from the dead. Personally, these comparisons help bring what at first glance seems completely foreign, to something more relatable to the modern cultures I'm used to.

In my opinion, Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya is a successful film. The film was at times extremely inconclusive, vague and unclear. This makes sense considering what the filmmaker had to work with. The language barrier and the time and cultural differences would create difficulties. Despite its ambiguity, it did give me a better understanding of Maya culture and their way of life. It gave me a sense as to what the Mayans held as important. I liked the fact that the film uses images taken directly from Mayan pottery. This gives the film an authentic feel. We are able to experience the story the same way it was pictured by the Mayans themselves.