The Holy Mountain

[Stookie]

I just watched Alexjandro Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain". It's a film that was made in the late 60's that was never widely released until just recently on DVD. It's chocked full of esoteric symbolism - every frame in the entire movie. Astrology, tarot, sacred geometry, kaballah, and all kinds of occult symbols.

Ultimately, it follows a thief who finds an alchemist that takes him and several others to The Holy Mountain to overthrow some priests and attain enlightenment. Jodorowsky made the film with the intention of bringing the viewer to enlightenment. I thought it was pretty incredible, but others may just find it to be flat-out weird. And there's no denying that it's one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. David Lynch must have taken a cue from this flick. Recommended for people into esoteric symbolism or artistic, weird, independent film making. Or both (like me).

[manwesulimo2004]

Weird... definitely. Just watched this film last night. I'm a young guy so I don't know much about the time the film was produced in, also I didn't understand a lot of the symbolism, but really it seemed to me like this film was trying harder to be outrageous and weird than it was to enlighten the viewer. It's certainly an interesting film but not quite my cup of tea.

[Stillwater]

I saw The Holy Mountain about a year back, and I liked it a good deal. Alexjandro Jodorowsky directed another film of about the same fame, and possibly even harder to come by; it is called "El Topo" (The Mole), and is in my opinion sublime.

El Topo has about the same intentions as The Holy Mountain, but goes about its aim with a bit more dexterity in my opinion. The film is slightly more accessible than The Holy Mountain because it's symbolism is not as unrestrained and "pretentious" in appearance, but it is every bit as potent, and with a subtle and excellent soundtrack. I found El Topo to be a bit deceptive, because when it starts out it looks like it is going to be a terrible Spaghetti Western, but that is only the backdrop, and the film gets stranger and more offtrack by the moment; by the 1st quarter of the film, the plot is totally derailled, and the protagonist is launched into a quest to kill 4 master sages (associated with Asian philosophies) living in the desert; I won't spoil it any further, but will just say that from that point, the movie gets even farther off track, and heads in yet another tangent direction, but it somehow all works to a brilliant degree.

[Stookie_]

I have a copy of El Topo that I got with the Holy Mountain (4 years ago!) that I still haven't watched... I got sidetracked by some older Werner Herzog films. I suppose it's time to dust it off.