Apocalypto is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 film directed by Mel Gibson. Set in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) before Spanish contact, it depicts one man's experience during the decline of the ancient Mayan civilization. The film was released in the United States on December 8, 2006 to mostly positive reviews from film critics according to Rotten Tomatoes, but has been criticized by a number of anthropologists and archaeologists working in the field of Mayanist studies for its depiction of late Maya society as little more than unsophisticated "brutal savages", as well as for its evident anachronisms and other historical inaccuracies.