Padgett also writes in his Time magazine Apocalptyo piece that “criticism of Apocalypto is expected from Mexican nationalists …since it touches on the raw issue of human sacrifice, which scholars don’t believe was a prevalent Maya practice until the post-classic period, after A.D. 900, when fiercer influences like the Toltecs and Aztecs arrived. It is in that period, not coincidentally, that Apocalypto is set.” Padgett also writes that “if there are complaints about Apocalypto‘s portrayal of human sacrifice by the Maya, whose mostly impoverished descendants today are a cause celebre for liberals, Gibson says he won’t care. ‘After what I experienced with The Passion, I frankly don’t give a flying fuck about much of what those critics think.'”