Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Now Playing at the Pantheon Bar", April 25, 2007
In a culture desensitized by violent brutality and computer-generated wizardry, it may be enough to say that I watched The Holy Mountain, which contains neither, with my mouth hanging open the entire time. I still can't quite believe that such a film was ever made, though I've long sensed that such a film should be. While not overtly violent, The Holy Mountain is punctuated by graphic, shocking and heretical images, but these only form one aspect of its jaw-dropping resonance. Jodorowsky's film is original, audacious, visually and thematically inspired. It's also kind of funny.
In essence the film is a series of literalized metaphors about the archetypal spiritual journey to experience reality beyond illusion, a quest motivated by a desire to transcend the absurd horrors of civilization: war, greed, corruption, self-obsession and the politics of power. As such the characters and events themselves are largely symbolic. Unlike a lot of avant-garde films, Holy Mountain's narrative is structured and surprisingly linear, though it flowers like a rambling, slightly disjointed dream.
Jodorowsky's spiritual path is an unflinching synthesis of the basic conceptual and aesthetic elements of many mystical traditions, including Zen's formal simplicity, Kabbalic and Hindu ritual, Alchemical processes, Shamanic trials, master/student dynamics and the mythology of the Holy Mountain itself, all of which are gracefully blended into the artful and psychedelic texture of the film.
Despite the clichéd "ancient wisdom" aspect of some moments, The Holy Mountain achieves what is a fairly fresh and ultimately tongue-in-cheek attempt to enlighten the audience. Sometimes the pacing and editing of the film feel a little dated, but this usually adds to the film's unique style rather than diminish it. The Holy Mountain is an ambitious film, provocative in its boldness and charming in its outlandishness, and traveling with these seekers will undoubtedly color our own journeys, both inner and outer...
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Holy of Holies, March 25, 2007
I have now purchased a copy of The Films of Alejandro Jodorowski and I give this film even a higher recommendation than I did before. The DVD is superb, and it's a nice plus to run Jodorowski's commentary track as subtitles on the film itself, since the commentary is in Spanish anyway.
El Topo was about a man seeking enlightenment and was made before Jodorowsky had ever smoked marijuana or taken LSD. The Holy Mountain is the attempt to enlighten the entire society. To prepare, he found a Guru, who gave him LSD. Then after he had gathered his cast, he took them on a three month retreat to prepare, and the film itself seems to have taken six months to shoot. When I met Jodorowsky in 2003, he called El Topo his favorite son; The Holy Mountain his troubled son; and Santa Sangre his perfect son. All three are essential works. Jodorowsky truly is Alexandro the Great.
Holy Mountain is not about being high, it is about seeing through all illusions, of which getting high very much is one of those illusions. It is a huge satire of the modern world in which the Alchemist (played by Alexandro himself) finds the most horrible people in the solar system, and then takes them on a quest that pacifies them by promising immortality - just like the regular religions!
For a film that does not go "inside" any of the characters -- we see them in beautifully framed compositions -- it is very easy to follow and never lets the viewer down. In the end, he even reveals the secret of immortality. "And here we are -- mortals, more human than ever."
I think I should note that Richard Rutowski, who worked with Oliver Stone on several of his most interesting works (like The Doors, Nixon, and U Turn), plays the character Axon.
I believe The Holy Moutain may be the most perfect Utopian vision ever put on film.
And if someone tried to make a film like this today, they'd probably be arrested.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Inexplicable and Remote but Still Appealing, July 30, 2007
I watched El Topo immediately upon buying the Alejandro Jodorowsky DVDs a month or so ago. I've made the assertion that El Topo is one of my favorite movies ever made in a prior review, and The Holy Mountain was waiting in the wings. I have seen The Holy Mountain before but I only owned a Japanese bootleg. So I've had plenty of time to work out my ideas toward what The Holy Mountain is about and I do believe it justifies more than one or two viewings. I've never understood this film but I figured it was because I didn't try as hard at understanding it as I did with El Topo. However, at this point I've exhausted all my efforts and I will admit that with the Holy Mountain I'm stumped. I have no idea what this movie is trying to say.
The Holy Mountain opens with our protagonist, the thief who looks like Jesus Christ, befriending a deformed dwarf. A bunch of wax versions of the thief looking crucified are created and distributed throughout the community and the thief eats the face off of one of them and ties it to a bunch of balloons. The character played by Jodorowsky, the alchemist, summons the thief to approach his giant tower. There at the alchemist's tower, we are introduced to seven people whose names reference some of the nine planets. The alchemist urges them to destroy their material things and then they all go to the Holy Mountain. When they get there, Jodorowsky speaks to the cast, the crew and the audience outside of the context of the film. He says that we should leave the Holy Mountain and that real life is awaiting us.
The Holy Mountain has flashes of the religious allegorical commentary that Jodorowsky makes in El Topo, but here perhaps his brushes are too broad for me to pick up on. I'm not saying the film can't be deciphered and that theorizing what the film is about is not worth your time, but not enough made sense to me here to give the movie credit for its story. There are some really great scenes that comment here and there in ways I could follow, but the film's overall scope seems out of reach if it is present at all. Perhaps that is my fault, but if there is an overall commentary being made then I partially blame Jodorowsky for not provoking me enough to discover it.
It is a visually exciting movie but because I couldn't follow much of it, some of the film's content came off as intentionally shocking. In The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky seems to turn up the volume on some of the elements I thought were border-line gratuitous in El Topo. Firstly, the aforementioned issues of too much fuzzy imagery and broad brush strokes and that is something that might fundamentally corrupt my review if we are to assume that the point went over my head. Secondly, there is quite a bit of full frontal nudity in this movie from both genders and some of it is more graphic than what we might see in R-rated movies today, but I guess that is a sign of the times. Thirdly, what is it with Jodorowsky and castration? Not to mention poop? Anyway, tid-bits of this movie are interesting and it is like nothing I have ever seen before, so for that I will recommend The Holy Mountain, but that doesn't mean it deserves a higher rating.
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