The Holy Mountain (1973)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writer:

Alejandro Jodorowsky (written by)

Release Date:

21 August 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery...

Plot Keywords:

God | Holy Mountain | Mountain | Planet | Solar System

Cast

Alejandro Jodorowsky	...	The Alchemist (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)
Horácio Salinas	...	The Thief (as Hector Salinas)
Zamira Saunders	...	The Written Woman (as Ramona Saunders)
Juan Ferrara	...	Fon
Adriana Page	...	Isla
Burt Kleiner	...	Klen
Valerie Jodorowsky	...	Sel
Nicky Nichols	...	Berg
Richard Rutowski	...	Axon (as Richard Rutowsky)
Luis Lomeli	...	Lut
Ana De Sade	...	The Prostitute
Chucho-Chucho	...	The Chimpanzee
Letícia Robles	...	Bald Woman 1 (as Leticia Robles)
Connie De La Mora	...	Bald Woman 2
David Kapralik	...	Tourist

Also Known As:

La montaña sagrada (Mexico)
The Sacred Mountain (International: English title) (reissue title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Mexico | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (re-rating, uncut) | UK:X (original rating, cut version) | France:-16 | Netherlands:18 | Australia:MA (2007 re-rating) | South Korea:18 | West Germany:18 | Italy:VM14 (2001) | New Zealand:R18 | USA:R | Hong Kong:III

Filming Locations:

Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico

Company:

Allen & Betty Klein and Company (ABKCO)

Trivia:

The chanting played during the opening scene ritual includes the lineage of Buddhist teachers. Jodorowsky's name appears exactly as the chant says "Shakyamuni", which refers Siddhartha Guatama, commonly known as "the" Buddha.

Quotes:

The Alchemist: You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mise-en-abyme (2006)

"You are excrement, but you can change into gold..."

This is not only, in my opinion, the best movie by maestro Alexandro Jodorowsky, not only the best movie ever made in Mexico or Latin America, or not only the best movie ever...I would say that this sort of work ranks along with the bible or the alcoran of the muslims. It is a proposal with not only an incalculable artistic achievement, but a movie that goes beyond that...A proposal about the human condition, and how to achieve perfection and reach holiness, just like the bible seems to do. As far as a movie, it synthesizes his Panic proposal of the artwork and the world like no other of this work, and can be interpreted in many ways. It's meaningful for everyone who sees it, and cannot be ignored, causing a deep conmotion in every spectator, and him/her to actively participate in the search. In a few words, it is a revelation. A revelation that some people doesn't want you to experience. I dont know how many of you know that the original copies of this movie and El Topo were destroyed by Allen Klein (at least that's how Jodorowsky put it). So, I guess that we the few people who have seen it are very lucky and must really asume that we are. I would synthesize the argument this way (this is what I roughly understood): All the icons that man has created reunite in his mortal form to achieve inmortality, and ultimately holiness. For that, they must become a group, and fuse with a "great self", loosing the concept that each one has of his own. The thief represents christianity, and the rest of the searchers represents a good of the greek pantheon each (Jodorowsky representing the sun, and Ramona Saunders the moon). All of them are thieves, 6 of them represent the most powerful people on the earth, and all of them know that they are mortal. This movie does not criticize any religion, and is not surrealistic either, nor an excersise in sadomasochism (we may be able to say that about "Fando & Lis", his first movie, because that one is an allegory of the couple relationship). Each symbol relates perfectly into a structure that leads you to the end, in which you must participate and assume your own humanity, forgetting about what you understand as "identity". Nevertheless, to come to this conclusion you have to had come across some reading before, and know Jodorowsky's work somehow. Its good that this movie is rated as that because it shows that it caused a reaction, which I believe was the main point, but misunderstood anyway, which has doomed its fate. I am sorry it has been discontinued, mainly because it was misunderstood. I started to become afraid that it would disappear from the face of the earth, but this is the kind of movie that does not become old with time. Its like wine, the more time it spends away, the better it will taste, hopefully. Younger generations seem to like it more than that when it was made. A true view ahead of its time, and perhaps our, because if not, we would be able to buy it at Wal Mart enjoy it without fearing that lawyers would come and get us. Perhaps it just wasnt meant for that.