The shot of One-Eye reaching for his axe in the foreground while the general and his sin stand in the background mimics the shoot of Angel-Eyes reaching for his gun with Blondie in the background.
In an interview Nicolas Winding Refn (who is a big fan and a personal friend of Alejandro Jodorowsky) confirmed that El topo was one of his biggest influences for Valhalla Rising. Both films are conceived by their directors as projections of acid trips.
