Mel Gibson's Apocalypto: a beautifully made and politically repugnant film. We're talking true repugnance here: the "vile" Mayans are wiped out by their sinfulness. In case one might take pity on Jaguar Paw's band of brothers, one of them, in captivity, laments the rape of his wife -- before, in true Gibsonian fashion, hoping that his wife resisted until the end, because otherwise, the bitch will never make it into heaven.

What next for Gibson? Here are some suggestions.

1) Mel Gibson's Pogrom. Mendel is a poor but virtuous clockmaker in a tiny shtetl in the Pale of Settlement. His dreams of raising his family are dashed by a marauding horde of Cossacks. In order to avenge the murder of his wife and sons, Mendel strengthens his body in a muskel Judentum gymansium in cosmopolitan Berlin, where the teachings of Max Nordau open his mind to the promise of Zionism. Fully fit, he returns home to hunt down the band of Cossacks -- and shtetl elders who sold out his people. ("Go Beyond The Pale. Summer 2008.")

2) Mel Gibson's Middle Passage. Okonkwo is a poor but virtuous hunter with an Igbo tribe somewhere in West Africa. His dreams of raising his family are dashed by a marauding band of Muslim slave-traders. Taken into slavery, Okonkwo must liberate his family using his superior brute strength and cunning wits to overpower the Muslims. At the moment of triumph, Okonkwo's victory is snatched from him by the arrival of Europeans, who seek to profit from the Triangular Trade. In order to save his family -- and the Igbo themselves -- Okonkwo must face the ultimate decision: to collaborate and enslave another tribe aligned with the Muslims, or to resist in all directions. ("The Longest Voyage Lies Within. Summer 2009.")

3) Mel Gibson's Afrikaans. Botha is a poor but virtuous farmer tilling his soil in South Africa. His dreams of raising his family are dashed by the Boer War. The marauding British round his family up into concentration camps and seek to enslave his neighbors. Botha's only way out is to rally an insurgent force of Free Afrikaans and savage Zulus to resist British rule. But when the Zulus attempt to play both sides against each another, Botha must betray his old friends in return -- and he learns that on the veldt, it's every man for himself. ("Cry Freedom. Summer 2010.")