Mel Gibson

Although Mel Gibson is always referred to as an Australian filmmaker, the truth is that he was born in Peekskill, New York, on January 3, 1956. Of course, his ancestors came from Australia, and the fact is that as a boy Mel and his large family –there were no fewer than eleven siblings, of which the filmmaker was the sixth– moved to New South Wales, in that country. He would study at the university in Sydney, and also trained as an actor at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he had fellow performers such as Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis .

Mel would make an appearance on television, but it was in the cinema that a fame awaited him that came almost immediately from a certain warrior from a post-apolyptic world, whom he played in three films under the direction of George Miller : Mad Max, Savages of the Highway (1979), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). His starring appearance in these fast-paced films was paired with a more dramatic role in Tim (1979), where he starred opposite Piper Laurie ., and that earned him an award in his country. Around that time, 1980, he would meet his wife Robyn Moore, a nurse with whom he married and had seven children. That seemed like a model marriage, but the separation would come in 2009. Both spouses have been very discreet about the breakup, although it is possible to think of her immense patience due to his difficult character; The fact is that Gibson would start a relationship with the Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva, with whom he has had a girl, whose custody is now disputed by both, since she has accused Mel of ill-treatment.

Another prestigious Australian filmmaker Gibson worked with was Peter Weir . With him he consolidated his acting talent, which was associated with an undeniable photogenicity, so that he shone in the anti-war plea Gallipoli (1981) and in the war journalist film The Year We Live Dangerously (1982), where he shared shots with Sigourney Weaver .

The call from Hollywood came immediately for Mel, and his first foray into cinema there was with Mutiny on board (1984), a review of the adventures at sea of ​​the Bounty, alongside a then little-known Anthony Hopkins . He would be followed by When the River Grows (1984), one of farmers with Sissy Spacek , and especially the start of the Lethal Weapon saga (1987), one of fellow cops with contrasting characters. His crazy character of Martin Riggs, a good guy but with outbursts, would be said to be prophetic of the problems with alcohol and his too loose tongue, which would complicate his life in the future.

But then Mel Gibson had fully integrated into the ‘star-system’, and made very successful action movies and comedies like Conexión tequila (1988) and Dos pájaros a tiro (1990). This did not prevent him from undertaking more ambitious roles, such as the Prince of Denmark in Hamlet (1990) , directed by Franco Zeffirelli .

No one expected the actor to start a brilliant career as a director, but he did so by making his debut with The Man Without a Face (1993), a film with an ambiguous relationship between a teacher with a disfigured face and his disciple, a boy who is preparing to enter a university. Military school. Gibson achieved a magnificent result, although it was difficult to foresee that with Braveheart (1995) he would reach the top; His film about a 13th-century Scottish leader won the Oscar for Best Picture, and went on to win Best Director.

Mel continued to perform, and made interesting compositions in Rescue (1996), Conspiracy (1997) or The Patriot (2000), although something had changed in the filmmaker. He now seemed to opt for films with values ​​that fit his worldview, as could be seen in When We Were Soldiers (2002), a stark look at war and military principles, and Signals(2002), where his character as a priest was going through a crisis of faith. A practicing Catholic, although he confesses to be a sinner, Mel Gibson is a passionate defender of the family and the right to life, and in fact some of his very clear statements in this regard have earned him sharp criticism with labels such as “caveman ultra-conservative” and the like. .

The negative comments did not affect Mel Gibson, then married and father of seven children, who launched into the most personal project of his career, The Passion of the Christ (2004), a faithful look at the last hours of Jesus on Earth, a A true declaration of love, bold due to its hyperrealism and the use of the languages ​​of the time, and which was involved in an artificial controversy that did not prevent an amazing box office success. The Christian public responded massively to the film, and there was talk of conversions of people of many different stripes all over the world.

Gibson would continue with his very personal cinema and delivered another great film, Apocalypto (2006), an original and dynamic look at the decline of the Maya, a parable of current civilization. With an impressive pace, the filmmaker returned to hyperrealism and the languages ​​of the time in which the action takes place.

It gave the impression that the filmmaker was forgetting his acting side, but in 2010 he returned with Al límite , where he gives life to a policeman, a suffering father. He has The Beaver pending release , where he has worked alongside Jodie Foster , with whom he already coincided in Maverick (1994). What the future holds for him is unclear, as his personal problems are taking their toll, and many in Hollywood consider him a pest. His desire to shoot a movie about the Vikings with Leonardo DiCaprio can go to sleep in the limbo of films never shot, although some of us trust that this ‘braveheart’ will be reborn from what some believe is his ashes to continue offering us cinema first division.