D Alejandro Jodorowsky | Mexico, 1973
The Holy Mountain is a crazy surrealist adventure written, directed and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky. Created in 1973 it really shows it age, with gratuitous nudity and sex scenes similar to The Sex Therapist, an Australian film released in the same year – placing this aside the style itself is surreal, many objects in the mise-en-scene are there for specific reasons – it is visual poetry.
It is disgusting and confronting in parts and you only have to see the trailer to prepare yourself. The film is heavily symbolic and I am sure there are specific meanings for every single piece of imagery.
The film’s form is mainly abstract, moving from one event to the next, however The Holy Mountain to my surprise does have a coherent story. The focus is on a Christ like figure (Horacio Salinas), and his troubles moving through a combined contemporary and biblical setting. He eventually comes across the The Alchemist (Alexandro Jodorowsky) who trains him and some others (who are introduced throughout the film) on their quest to find The Holy Mountain.
The film is a sophisticated critique of religion and those who blindly follow it. There are also scenes with a group of tourists, representing western society, taking photos of people being butchered in the streets. I can only assume that this is a comment on how western society has been disassociated with the issues that plague other countries such as Chile and Mexico. Jodorowsky himself was born in Chile to Jewish-Ukranian parents and he now resides in France.
The film has the best ending I have ever seen, and although it was a late screening (11.30pm), I really enjoyed the film. I was surprised and how fascinating the images were, and how coherent the story was, just based on the trailer I thought it would be difficult to watch but there were many absurdly funny moments.
