* A suggestion challenge by Sam Hawken *
This has been an ongoing debate for a couple generations, but in my mind, cinema is primarily a narrative art. It's a more complicated question than it seems, because the boundaries between narrative and non-narrative cinema aren't always clear. I am neither the first or the last to be fascinated by this debate. Legendary Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky loved to surf that fine line in creating the most vivid and provocative movies of his era. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is one of the most challenging, yet compelling movie of his illustrious career, where he confronts the themes of desire, divinity and enlightenment that have been obsessing him for all his career.
A Christ-like figure (Horacio Salinas) is resurrected from the dead by a limbless man *, put on a cross and then brought on a journey through a world corrupted by the forces of chaos. He eventually finds a secluded tower where a powerful achlemist (Alejandro Jodorowsky himself) lives. The Jesus-looking dude, apparently named ''The Thief'' in the screenplay (go figure), first tries to assassinate the alchemist and fails miserably. After a super strange scene where he shits into a glass pot and sees his shit turned into nugget of gold by the alchemist, he decides to embark on a journey to the Holy Mountain with seven powerful people of this Earth, to seek enlightenment. If you thought this description was weird, you might not be ready for the movie.
It definitely helped that it wasn't my first tango with Alejandro Jodorowsky movies. I had the privilege of watching SANTA SANGRE and EL TOPO in college, so the ambitious and provocative symbolism didn't take me by surprise. The religious symbolism is particularly important in THE HOLY MOUNTAIN. The alchemist is portrayed as this Satanic figure, bringing enlightenment to the faithful. During the immortal shit-to-gold sequence, Jodorowsky's Christ-like theif also assumes a Baphomet-like posture, symbolizing the nature of the experience he's seeking out. In the first half of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, there are several scenes from the New Testament featured out of order, like Jesus had resurrected once more and taken a bizarro tour of his own life in a corrupted, contemporary world.
The idea behind this heavy use of religious symbolism, I think, is to confront and try to reconcile the ideas of divine and holy, of desire and the sacred, that are very dear to Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's funny because as hard as the first half of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN relies on symbolism, the latter half goes into a whole other direction. The movie takes this late-Bunuel **surrealist approach, where Jesus dude and the industrialists free themselves from their Earthly possessions and identities in order to prepare themselves for the Holy Mountain. Both halves of the movies actually work together, but won't give themselves away until the very end. The deceptively profound ending is one of the most discussed things about THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and I'll gladly discuss it with you via email if you feel inclined.
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is a beautiful, courageous and thoroughly provocative movie about the hollow nature of Earthly existence. It's a narrative movie, but it's as tortuous and unconventionally told as it gets. It's challenging, but instinctive and rewarding too. Films like THE HOLY MOUNTAIN are why I often give Alejandro Jodorowsky as a counter-argument to ego-driven and deliberate directors like Jean-Luc Godard in debates about the nature of cinema. His work is both idiosyncratic and life-affirming. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is bold and uncompromising, yet thoroughly watchable if you know what kind of movie you're getting into. Another piece of anthology from one of the greatest creative minds of our era.
* What's with Jodorowsky and limbless people? Are they like, his midgets? They're in all of his movies.
** This movie was a contemporary of late-era Bunuel, so I'm not claiming any influence, merely that their process was similar.
This has been an ongoing debate for a couple generations, but in my mind, cinema is primarily a narrative art. It's a more complicated question than it seems, because the boundaries between narrative and non-narrative cinema aren't always clear. I am neither the first or the last to be fascinated by this debate. Legendary Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky loved to surf that fine line in creating the most vivid and provocative movies of his era. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is one of the most challenging, yet compelling movie of his illustrious career, where he confronts the themes of desire, divinity and enlightenment that have been obsessing him for all his career.
A Christ-like figure (Horacio Salinas) is resurrected from the dead by a limbless man *, put on a cross and then brought on a journey through a world corrupted by the forces of chaos. He eventually finds a secluded tower where a powerful achlemist (Alejandro Jodorowsky himself) lives. The Jesus-looking dude, apparently named ''The Thief'' in the screenplay (go figure), first tries to assassinate the alchemist and fails miserably. After a super strange scene where he shits into a glass pot and sees his shit turned into nugget of gold by the alchemist, he decides to embark on a journey to the Holy Mountain with seven powerful people of this Earth, to seek enlightenment. If you thought this description was weird, you might not be ready for the movie.
It definitely helped that it wasn't my first tango with Alejandro Jodorowsky movies. I had the privilege of watching SANTA SANGRE and EL TOPO in college, so the ambitious and provocative symbolism didn't take me by surprise. The religious symbolism is particularly important in THE HOLY MOUNTAIN. The alchemist is portrayed as this Satanic figure, bringing enlightenment to the faithful. During the immortal shit-to-gold sequence, Jodorowsky's Christ-like theif also assumes a Baphomet-like posture, symbolizing the nature of the experience he's seeking out. In the first half of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, there are several scenes from the New Testament featured out of order, like Jesus had resurrected once more and taken a bizarro tour of his own life in a corrupted, contemporary world.
I keep imagining this scene set to this music. No idea why.
The idea behind this heavy use of religious symbolism, I think, is to confront and try to reconcile the ideas of divine and holy, of desire and the sacred, that are very dear to Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's funny because as hard as the first half of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN relies on symbolism, the latter half goes into a whole other direction. The movie takes this late-Bunuel **surrealist approach, where Jesus dude and the industrialists free themselves from their Earthly possessions and identities in order to prepare themselves for the Holy Mountain. Both halves of the movies actually work together, but won't give themselves away until the very end. The deceptively profound ending is one of the most discussed things about THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and I'll gladly discuss it with you via email if you feel inclined.
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is a beautiful, courageous and thoroughly provocative movie about the hollow nature of Earthly existence. It's a narrative movie, but it's as tortuous and unconventionally told as it gets. It's challenging, but instinctive and rewarding too. Films like THE HOLY MOUNTAIN are why I often give Alejandro Jodorowsky as a counter-argument to ego-driven and deliberate directors like Jean-Luc Godard in debates about the nature of cinema. His work is both idiosyncratic and life-affirming. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is bold and uncompromising, yet thoroughly watchable if you know what kind of movie you're getting into. Another piece of anthology from one of the greatest creative minds of our era.
* What's with Jodorowsky and limbless people? Are they like, his midgets? They're in all of his movies.
** This movie was a contemporary of late-era Bunuel, so I'm not claiming any influence, merely that their process was similar.