The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973)

The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973)
Rating: 9.4

Holy Mountain is a bizarre surrealistic journey filled with grotesque, discomforting, psychedelic, sacrilegious, absurd, ironic, hilarious, and thought provoking imagery. The plot revolves around a thief who resembles Christ and meets an alchemist and a group of elite industrialists and politicians who are scheming to assault and conquer the 9 immortals on top of The Holy Mountain and steal their secret. Each of the members of the elite group introduce themselves as representative of a planet in our solar system and describe their jobs. Fon from Venus manufactures extreme makeup and fashion accessories including facial masks, fake muscles, and even can manipulate corpses electronically so they can kiss their loved ones goodbye, participate in their last rights, or even perform a strip tease. Isla from Mars produces weapons. Highlights include the rock and roll line (guitar guns) as well as guns for Buddhists, Jews, and Christians each with corresponding religious symbols attached (Buddha statue, menorah, and cross). Klen from Jupiter owns an art factory which is hilarious in itself without further explanation. Sel from Saturn operates a toy factory that perpetuates violence by selling war toys and comic books/government propaganda. Berg is the financial adviser for the president of Uranus. His advice is to kill 4 million people in order to maintain living standards. His wife is a blue haired obese woman who feeds a bottle to her baby anaconda and knits a sweater for it as well. Axon is the chief of police on Neptune. As an induction ceremony, new officers are publicly castrated and their testicles are displayed in the sanctuary of 1000 testicles. Lut, the architect from Pluto comes up with a "housing" concept consisting of a coffin shaped shelter, smaller than a bed. The result would make millions for the company without need to pay for electricity, plumbing, heating, etc. The film is highly stylized and more of an art piece than a conventional film with elaborate production design. One of the most unforgettable scenes is when there is a reenactment of the conquest of Mexico. Frog are dressed as conquistadors, and lizards as Indians, as an elaborate model set is blown up. In another ridiculous and comical scene a tourist poses as she is being raped by a soldier in the street, while her husband takes pictures.