Summary
Dissatisfied with an average life an thief, along with seven other seekers, consult an alchemist and pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain in order to gain enlightenment.
Here There Be Dragons
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films are different. Even those who love non-linear story telling, esoteric subject matter, and mind bending visuals may find themselves challenged by a film like “The Holy Mountain.”
When in film school, I heard the name said, not in class, but overheard in hushed conversations between film teachers and on film sub-reddits. I don’t think any of the students were watching him though. He always had an air of mystery and danger about him.
I heard that long portions of the film were wordless, that there was animal sex, that animals were really killed for the film, and that there was an ‘interesting treatment’ of human feces.
Was I ready for Jodorowsky?
Are you?
I Want a New Drug
One of the reasons Jodorowsky is so difficult for the average viewer to tackle is because his purpose for making film is so different than that for which most modern audiences are used to seeing.
Jodorowsky isn’t just trying to tell a story. He is trying to create an experience. His goal is not for you to follow the plot. It is for you to consume something that gives you a certain feeling upon its consumption.
He himself likened what he was attempting to the taking of a drug, except that instead of tripping on LSD you would trip on a film.
That is what this film does.
It makes you trip.
What I Felt and Feel
Because of the unusual goal of a film like “The Holy Mountain,” it makes it hard to discuss with someone who hasn’t seen it. It can feel a little like attempting a certain shade of red to a blind person but I will attempt it.
In the plot summary I wrote, I feel like I hardly said anything about the film, even though what I wrote completely encapsulates the film’s plot.
However, the method used to unfold this plot and the cinematography used to show this unfolding are much more than what can be simply described. I can tell you how I felt and that may tell you more than what I watched just as a person describing an acid trip would do better to describe what they felt than explain the way that acid works.
At first, I felt surprised, because the movie starts out very abruptly. As the first images of a man shaving two very similar women’s heads gave way to others I found myself confused and trying to catch up with what was happening. I felt a sense that the world was a very violent and crass, disgusting place, but also that there was beauty and complexity in its heart as well.
It seemed that people try to find a way to be one with the world and find a way to live at peace but no matter how one tries, violence and chaos seem to flourish and reign over even the most well intentioned man’s footsteps.
Then, as he ascends the tower, I felt at last, the world was left behind and some great secret might be at hand, but alas, the secret is not what one expects and in the end, all the searching we have done has been spent for nothing except to find that there is yet another source of enlightenment to find.
Verdict
In the end, I felt blessed. Blessed to be a part of humanity and its search for meaning. United to those who search even if they search elsewhere than I do.
I felt at peace.
That is the beauty of this film. I cannot tell you by what mystic art this film by all of its strange imagery is able to evoke such an emotional response but it does. It is a remarkable film and, now, one of my favorites.
It isn’t for any but the most avid film lover, and yet I wish everyone could experience it. It felt the way I feel after watching a storm roll in over the dunes by Lake Michigan, or when I’m in church on Easter and the lights go out in preparation for the risen light of Christ, or when I am snuggling with my wife on the couch and think “How can life ever offer me more than this complete and satisfying moment of relationship.”
“The Holy Mountain” is a spiritual experience I will keep going back to and keep encouraging others to go to but only if they are brave. After all, there are trials that must be faced to gain enlightenment.
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