The Holy Mountain/La Montaña Sagrada (1973) - Jodorowsky's wild, surrealist masterpiece

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Mystic symbolism and expansive imagination underlines this celestially figurative poster for Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain

A Jesus-looking character gathers a team with nine other incredible characters to head for a holy mountain!

 

The Holy Mountain is written, co-produced, co-starring, directed, co-edited and co-composed by Chilean master filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (Fando and Lis/Fando y Lis (1968)), whose 3rd feature it is. Jodorowsky also participated in creating the set and costume designs for the film. The title is a literal translation of the original Spanish title.

It is a mad and fascinating film, which it feels impossible to take one's eyes off of, even though it is a demanding watch. It may be the most psychedelic feature film ever made, featuring lots that one may take offense at, but which is nevertheless unarguably a visionary work of art with a width production-wise that is wholly striking and simply wild. 

The common narrative thread may seem elusive during the course of the film, SPOILER but in the end its final message is fairly clear: through anti-materialist and other types of realizations we can liberate ourselves from a hunt after holy mountains and simply live and love as humans.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 750k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Holy Mountain premiered in May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 114 minutes. The Beatles manager Allen Klein reportedly helped executive produce the film, with John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-financing it. Jodorowsky made central members of the cast prepare for three months prior to shooting with exercises in Zen, Sufi and yoga, studies and, for a month prior to filming, communal living in Jodorowsky's home. He and his wife reportedly spent a week without sleep, directed by a Japanese Zen master, prior to shooting. LSD and psychotropic mushrooms were ingested before and during production. Shooting took place in Mexico, including in Mexico City. The film has made more than 104k $ on recent re-issues, but details concerning its original release are regrettably buried deep. It had midnight screenings on the weekends for 16 months at one New York art cinema. It is hard to know whether it collected any substantial gross from its seemingly few original release markets. Jodorowsky returned with Tusk (1980). The Holy Mountain is fresh at 85 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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