I have just gone from irrevocably pissed off to beyond ecstatic in about 1.5 seconds. I just found out that one of my greatest desires is soon to be satisfied - I will soon own Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain on DVD. This is possibly my absolute favorite film of all time - the only other contender is Luchino Visconti's The Damned (Russ has a flair for melodrama). For the past 11 years, I have watched a grainy VHS bootleg of this masterpiece with Cantonese subtitles, waiting all the while for the day when it would finally be given its due and committed to DVD. That day is coming, and it is May 1, when those fucking brilliant geniuses at the Criterion Collection will release "The Films of Alejabdro Jodorowsky", a three-movie box set including The Holy Mountain, El Topo, and Fando y Lis. Topo and Fando are both great...but the Holy Mountain...well, it's...holy...
For those who have not heard of Jodorowsky, he is a Chilean-born Ukrainian Jew and quite possibly the most amazing mad genius in the history of cinema. The Holy Mountain is an epic following the quest of the Jesuses of each of the 9 planets to attain immortaility by climbing said holy mountain, with an undercurrent of caustic commentary about colonialization, sexuality, and religion. It is very diffuclt to convey the spectacle of this film and it really must be experienced. For example...how do you convey Jesus waking up in a room full of thousands upon thousands of replicas of himself, discovering they are made of bread, and eating them? A Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes that is the equivalent of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater - the bounty of bread and fish lead only to a greed-fuled pandemonium of violence among the poor. A re-enactment of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in which the Aztecs are lizards - dressed as Aztecs - and the Spaniards are frogs - dressed as conquistadores - arriving on mini-ships and invading a min-Aztec landscape? The Christs of the Nine Planets include a designer of religious themed-weapons and a guardian of a holy sanctuary of castrated penises. Jodorowsky himself is an alchemist who turns Christ's poo into gold. An Army parades with crucified skinned lambs. A wealth of physically disabled actors - Jodorwsky was known for his commitment to equal rights for the disabled and cast many disabled actors in his films. An old man who greets a bevvy of child prostitutes by removing his glass eye and lovingly clasping it into the hand of the youngest girl as tears run down his face.
This movie will blow your mind. I promise. See it!!! It is already available to be saved to Netflix for when it is released (May 1).
2 comments:
Excellent! I feel like I've heard you talk about this movie for ages. I'm still going through my Herzog obsession, and I'm not sure if there's room for another mad film genius. But I'm excited.
You know I FINALLY saw Aguirre!!!!! Man that Klaus Kinski sure is a freak. I hear he and Herzog got in such a huge fight on the set of either Aguirre or that other S American one that Herzog tried to kill himslef!!
More AJ facts: Jodorowsky said that he is to film what LSD is to the mind, and John & Yoko financed The Holy Mountain. The movie is based on two texts - one, The Ascent of Mt. Armel by St. John of the Cross ( Spanish Catholic mysticism) and the other Mount Analogue by the French surrealist Rene Daumel.
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