The Holy Mountain
I would put The Holy Mountain in the fantasy genre. Alejandro Jodorowsky created this movie in a totally surreal background with absurd settings. Almost every shot from this film has imagery related to different religions, beliefs and psychology. The way Jodorowsky presents it is comically absurd. I still remember the part of the Alchemist turns the thief’s feces into gold, and he said: You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold.
Jodorowsky divided the whole story into small sections on different planets with different characters. However, the main storyline is simple: all characters gather together to find the holy mountain. Though it is combined with so many small sections, the message is simple from this movie. At every core of each section, the film’s central themes reflect that mankind’s nature is corrupted and the happiness one can find hidden in life’s simple pleasures.
Rafael Corkidi, the cinematographer, helped The Holy Mountain have a great mise-en-scene. It is crucial for surrealist films to have clarity and quality in visual representation. Jodorowsky is an aficionado of tarot cards and Jungian theory. He has written several books about it. The music from this film is extremely peaceful and spiritual. All these components and symbols make the movie so unrealistic and illusional. The truth is hidden behind the film and hard to see. What’s so wonderful about the experimental film is that it makes us think. It doesn’t push story and meaning upon us; instead, it leads us to our own answer. I think my answer is pretty clear after The Holy Mountain: You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold. I believe things are not always what they are. The illusion exists, yet truth still exists.
” Goodbye holy mountain. Real life awaits us. “