The Holy Mountain

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

Director : Alejandro Jodorowsky

Year : 1973

Genre : Surrealistic Drama

Rating : ****

Based loosely on the book 'Mount Analogue' by Rene Daumal and the the biblical telling of The Ascent Of Mt. Carmel,'The Holy Mountain' is a mind blowing visual feast created by Chilean master of cinema Alejandro Jodorowsky, genius of such avant garde masterpieces as 'El Topo' and 'Santa Sangre'. Combining the surrealism of Luis Bunuel with the overt sexuality of Ken Russell, Jodorowsky created one of the most bizarrest, weirdest and sexiest movies ever made. Commenting on religion, death, consumerism and sexuality all in one film, 'The Holy Mountain' is an extremely complex and difficult watch and at nearly 2 hours, the movie does run out of steam in some parts. But now having completely absorbed everything about the film, I now realise that every single part of 'The Holy Mountain' fits together like a beautifully strange jigsaw puzzle. 

'The Holy Mountain' begins with a figure resembling Christ wandering aimlessly through a town filled with sacreligious and blasphemous imagery and violent, disturbing people. On his travels, he meets a mythical alchemist (played by Jodorowsky himself) who introduces him to seven individuals who have each come from a different planet in the solar system. They are each heads of their respective planets and each one is a powerhungry sex crazed dictator. However upon meeting the alchemist, they forget all of their worldly goods and together along with the Christ figure, climb the Holy Mountain to displace the gods living up on the summit and become immortal themselves.

 

Alejandro Jodorowsky is by far the most surreal director ever to have lived. Taking his influences from more contemporary European filmmakers such as Federico Fellini and more experimental directors such as Jean Cocteau and Luis Bunuel, Jodorowsky created movies which are both surreal and disturbing as well as beautifully shot visual wonders. In fact, there is some imagery in 'The Holy Mountain' that seems to be directly influenced by Bunuel's eye slicing 1929 'Un Chien Andalou' such as flies swarming around a man's hand and face. However, despite lacing his movies with images that are strange, disturbing and bizarre, Jodorowsky never forgets that there is a deep, underlying message in his movies and 'The Holy Mountain' doesn't lose sight of it's ultimate goal and meaning. Lacing the film with surprisingly graphic nudity and violence, Jodorowsky is able to both shock and amaze in equal measure. Usually simultaneously.

Surprisingly the funding for 'The Holy Mountain' came from the unlikeliest of sources. Jodorowsky's previous film 'El Topo' had been a generally successful underground hit and had caught the attention of ex - Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. Not afraid of the surreal himself, Lennon persuaded manager Allen Klein to give Jodorowsky $1 million dollars towards the production of his next film. After making 'The Holy Mountain', the director was keen to work with Klein again and soon talks of making another movie took place. While Jodorowsky was interested in continuing his trademark surreal work, Klein was more bothered about making a hard core pornographic film, based on the success of other titles such as 'Deep Throat' and 'The Devil In Miss Jones'. Not wanting to make a straight porn film, Jodorowsky walked out of the partnership and in retaliation, Klein pulled all prints of 'The Holy Mountain' from distribution. As a result, 'The Holy Mountain' wouldn't be seen in cinemas for nearly 30 years.

 

The underlying meaning of 'The Holy Mountain' has long been the conundrum for scholars for decades. While some see it as a quest for redemption and the true meaning of religions, others see it as the freedom of the human spirit expressing itself in vulgar and blatant ways. To me, 'The Holy Mountain' is a commentary on many subjects from Western esotericism to feminism. There is certainly an element for the eternal search for religion and the meaning to life itself laced all the way through the movie. From the Christ figure aimlessly wandering through the town's to the end pilgrimage to the unknown summit of the mountain. Many images in the film could be considered to be blasphemous and for this reason, when 'The Holy Mountain' was released in the UK, it was immediately given (unsurprisingly) an X certificate by the censors. Even as an atheist myself, I was shocked by the levels of sacrilege taking place on screen and that Jodorowsky didn't wind up in trouble. But as always, the director always has a metaphor lying in amongst the frames of the picture. 'The Holy Mountain' is not about the sacrilege of Jesus, but the crass commercialisation of the Christian faith that was being displayed throughout the world in the early 1970's. Images of dozens of wax crucifixes for sale or people pretending to be Christ carrying the giant cross to Golgotha shows the contempt that Jodorowsky had of the church selling itself away.

The amount of graphic nudity in 'The Holy Mountain' is actually quite shocking and I was amazed that so many women would be willing to bare all of their flesh for the sake of a film. While this may of course be a commentary on the recently founded feminist movement or the liberation of the human body, I don't know. What I do know is that none of the men or women who stripped for the making of 'The Holy Mountain' are at any time exploitated or used as objects of sexual desire. Interestingly, Jodorowsky seems to be one of the least mysogynistic directors ever to use a camera. It is the men in the movie that are the objects of sexual desire and are seen to be depraved and corrupted. Even the Christ figure is seen to be naked in a large portion of the movie (which may revert back to the blasphemous imagery).  Unlike a Ken Russell movie such as 'The Devil's, 'The Holy Mountain' treats the men as the underlings and the women as the higher power.

Jodorowsky was not only the director of 'The Holy Mountain' but he was also the set designer, score composer and costume designer. This meant that he had full artistic license with the film and could make it as bizarre or as surreal as he liked. The set designs are very reminiscent of Derek Jarman and Stanley Kubrick and as a result, 'The Holy Mountain' is a blistering vision; reminding in parts of Russell's 'The Devils', Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' and Lynch's 'Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me'. Any frame of 'The Holy Mountain' could be hung up in a museum because they are so luscious in colour, tone and energy. The music stretches multiple genres; from monotonic minimalistic music to guitar crunching rock anthems. Every scene has it's own distinctive theme and each one corresponds exactly with the visuals on screen; some even resembling the score that Jonny Greenwood would do for Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 oil epic 'There Will Be Blood'.

 

Due to Klein pulling prints out of US distribution, 'The Holy Mountain' didn't see the light of day on release in 1973; despite playing at a few prestigious film festivals, most notably Cannes. However, in 2007, both 'The Holy Mountain' and 'El Topo' were released with newly restored prints in cinema, but failed to make an impact, making only $844 on it's opening weekend. Soon the word of mouth got around among art house fans and cult film fans who flocked to the theatres to see these epic visions and by the summer of 2008, the movie had grossed $62 million.

Despite not getting a wide release and not performing at all well in cinemas, 'The Holy Mountain' has become a firm cult classic which has been studied, analysed and written about. Even 40 years later, it perplexes, amazes and outrages and has influenced some of the most popular directors today to make their own unique visions. To me, 'The Holy Mountain' is a pot - pourri of extraordinary music, instantly memorable scenes and imagery that will stay with me forever. If you are a fan of the works of Cronenberg, Lynch or Aronofsky, I am sure you will find 'The Holy Mountain' one of the most rewarding watches you will ever have. However, if surrealism goes over your head, avoid this film like the plague. From it's beginning scenes, the film doesn't give anything away in plot development, characterisation or even narrative. That saying, if you turn off the sound and just watch the imagery, you will be spellbinded. 'The Holy Mountain' is an epic vision from one of the greatest directors who has ever lived.