The Holy Mountain

[The New Barbarian]

Can someone please give me a link to where I can buy this masterpiece. Not even amazon.com has it!


P.S. I don't mean the version from the 1920's.

[Despare]

Italian Release
Japanese Release (Please note this DVD has optical censoring of genitalia)
El Topo/Holy Mountain 2 Pack

[The New Barbarian]

SWEET! I found it right here! http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited...p?sku=D52782++

[Festered]

Surrealism, satire, spirituality, and sacrilege unify in Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious companion piece to his western El Topo.

The film first follows a thief that resembles Jesus Christ who befriends a legless, armless midget and wanders through a city trying to collect money from tourists. He eventually meets up with a universal guru known as "The Alchemist" who trains the Thief to become a master of his own soul. The Thief and eight other people, each representing a planet of the solar system, are led by him to scale the Holy Mountain and seek the secret to immortality.

All the way from the beginning to the introduction of the astrological characters is near cinematic nirvana. Almost any given shot or scene could be considered a masterpiece of Surrealistic art. Unlike in El Topo, Jodrowsky now had the money to pay for sets of visual grandeur, each with a distinctive flair and poignant image. Jodorowsky also composed a great score to couple these fine images with.

The introduction of each astrological character comes with a serving of blatant satire. There is absolutely no subtlety, yet it is still quite amusing. Unfortunately, it seems Jodorowsky's stunning visuals are downplayed during these segments, and they suffer for it. Even though the introductions are brief, they seem to drag at parts since there are eight of them. This is one of the few faults i could find with the film.

Unfortunately, those segments are followed by another one of the lacking parts of the film, when the Alchemist trains the group to act as one entity. I found the money burning scene excellent, and it takes place on an amazing set, but when they go to the Mayan-style pyramids, those scenes seem to drag a little as well. The best part about these scenes was that they recalled the frog circus scene from the first act of the film. This part of the movie wasn't bad, but it could have been better.

In the actual climbing of the Holy Mountain, the film returns, once again, to the excellence of the first act. There is more social satire offered in the Pantheon Bar located at the bottom of the Holy Mountain, but i won't go into details. The climbing was accompanied by surreal visuals that were as amazing as they were grotesque. It all builds up to what I now consider one of the greatest endings in cinema.

A most excellent trip.

[The_Return]

I cant sit through this one...I've tried twice and haven't got further than where they introduce the planet-people.

I love El Topo, and Fando y Lis was very good too, but this one is just too much for me. The visuals are great, but I just can't seem to get into it.

I own it though, so I'll have to give it another try someday. At the very least I should finish watching it...

[fortunato]

Santa Sangre and El Topo are pretty much tied for my favorite Jodorowsky piece. I really need to see La Cravate. I really should just buy the boxset.

[The_Return]

Originally Posted by fortunato

I really need to see La Cravate. I really should just buy the boxset.

Yes, yes you do.

[The Mothman]

I've only seen Santa Sangre and Holy Mountain, I really liked Holy Mountain, I dig that kinda bizzaro shit, plus i caught on to a lot of the symbolism. i still need to see El Topo really bad.

[_____V_____]

El Topo is a must-see!

I really loved Holy Mountain, but my fav is Santa Sangre. There is something about that movie which I cant get enough of. Amazing piece of work.