"The Holy Mountain" is probably one of the most psychedelic and artistic films ever made. I have no idea how to interpret the symbolism since religious-based metaphors and spiritualism are not really my "forte". That said, Chilean auteur, Alejandro Jodorowsky's masterpiece is an immensely absorbing mind-fuck experience...
In a nutshell, it begins with a Jesus-looking guy asleep in the dirt, with a diaper full of piss, being woken by a limbless fella whom he carries to a town that appears to be having some type of festival. A bunch of drunks make hundreds of plaster molds his body, which he destroys, angrily. Some hookers then follow him around. Eventually, he hops onto a big fish hook that takes him to the top of a tower where a mystical figure lives and begins to mentor him on a variety of crazy shit... The movie then oddly shifts gears when it introduces - in episodic fashion - a bunch of new characters who reside on different planets around the solar system and each have their own unique skill. They then team up in search of immortality...
The film features a giant mechanical vagina, frogs dressed in little costumes, feces being transformed into gold, and the longest scene in which a fat lady pisses into an abstract toilet! You can't make this shit up, folks!
Whether you can wrap your head around any facet of "The Holy Mountain" or not, it's still something that will appeal to fans of whacked out, art-house cinema. Much of it is ominously dream-like, yet there is plenty of weird comedic elements as well. It's not what I'd call a "great" or even a "good" film, since it's so insanely incomprehensible and a little dull in spots, however, every aspect of the film comes alive with a personal flair that Jodorowsky put into it. Despite the absurdity of much of the film, it feels authentic and it is clear that the film maker immersed himself in his work (which he actually did).
If this kind of shit suits you, it's definitely one to check out. Once again, it's BIZARRE!
"The Holy Mountain" is probably one of the most psychedelic and artistic films ever made. I have no idea how to interpret the symbolism since religious-based metaphors and spiritualism are not really my "forte". That said, Chilean auteur, Alejandro Jodorowsky's masterpiece is an immensely absorbing mind-fuck experience...
