It is totally impossible to summarize Alexandro Jodorowsky's film, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN. Like EL TOPO, it is drenched in blood and abounds in monsters. The clue to his films was his reply to my question as to whether he had had a Jungian analysis. He said he had had a lengthy analysis with Freudian, Jungian and Reichian analysts, but the Jungian one influenced his imagery. He told the press that if you see this film as science fiction, you are not trained to inner realities.
He did all of his own translations, moving with ease into French, English, Spanish and Portugese and dispensing with the festival translator by saying that in every circus there are two clowns, one funny and one serious one, but here he will take on the role of both. The translator was so upset by this comment that he amazed everyone by later pulling out the plug for the microphones.
Jodorowsky is less sinister looking than he is in his black leather EL TOPO costume. His vibrations are charismatic, poetic yet realistic, and his manner is open My reservations about the film are that the message is abnegation of the self and the ego and one cannot believe, after observing Jodorowsky in person, that he really believes any of that. He is a vibrating lump of ego.
Commenting on his film talents, he said, "I am like the dog. I can dance if you give me money." Even though celebrating his body in films with nudity and sexy clothing, he says, "Our bodies are not our masters. We don't need them."
The film is the adventures of a man in search of the wise men on the Holy Mountain who finds that there are no wise men, that they are all stuffed dummies. Jodorowsky told the press, "We can only change our oppressors. It is impossible for people to liberate themselves from oppressors. People have to change themselves. But nice people also have balls They have the force to change their inner selves." "In my eleven films," he continued, "I cleaned my mind, I cleaned my feelings and my bitterness. I suffered too much. I want my next film to be for children."
Asked about the rumor that they tried to kill him in Mexico, he said, "I used the Church of Guadalupe, which is a church dedicated to the Virgin, and the newspapers said I did a Black Mass there and everyone began to hate me. They came to kill me, and I had to take my children out. I am always asked why I use so many monsters. The first time the monster was me. I am Spanish. My mother was Spanish. I have a tradition of painters like Goya and Greco, painters who liked monsters. Monsters give me the feeling of beauty. What is ugly is beautiful. I like Arrabal's films. We are like brothers."
The film attacks everyone, everything. A mother wakes up her son by tickling his genitals. She sits on the toilet seat while he takes a bath. A gas is sold that turns mothers into cannibals who then eat their children. A handbag case comes equipped with a beartrap for feminists to castrate men. The ruler of an empire is deaf, dumb, and blind. Before making an important decision, he puts his hand into his wife's sexual organs. If they are moist, the decision is positive. If dry, the response is negative. Groups of young men are initiated into a secret society by cutting off their penises.
At the end, the films's guru makes comments like, "The flower knows. You don't need to ask it. Plants are the books where knowlege is written. The grave is your first mother." Jodorowsky is a man superior to his films, and if he ever gets to integrate all of his analytic Zen, Sufi and Buddhist training, he will be a truly fantastic filmmaker.
But the best way to convey the irony and charm of his personality is by quoting his autobiography. "My parents were Russian. I was born in Iquique, a small town of 2,000 people in Chile, near Bolivia. I lived in this desert for ten years. The children didn't accept me because I was a 'Russian.'
"I moved to Santiago, the capital of Chile, where I studied Philosophy and Psychology. I worked in a circus as a clown. I acted in several plays and formed my own Marionette Theatre I created a Theatre of Mime. I lived in Santiago for ten years. The young men didn't accept me because I was a 'Jew'
"I went to Europe and lived in Paris. During that time I worked with Marcel Marceau and eventually became his partner. I wrote 'The Cage' and 'The Mask Maker' for him. I directed Maurice Chevalier. I founded the 'Panic' movement with Arrabal and Topor. I realized a Four-Hour Happening which has been acclaimed as the best happening ever made. I lived in Paris for ten years. The French didn't accept me because I was a 'Chilean.'
"I moved to Mexico, where I directed 100 plays (lonesco, Arrabal, Strindberg, Samuel Beckett, classical plays, etc.). I also wrote for the theatre (Zarathustra, Opera del Orden, etc.). I wrote three books, as well as a comic strip. Directed my first films, 'Fando and Lis' and 'El Topo.' I lived in Mexico for ten years. The Mexicans didn't accept me because I was'French.'
"I am married and have three sons and a daughter. Now I live in the United States, where I am finishing my film, 'The Holy Mountain.' The Americans think I am 'Mexican.'
"After ten years, I will move to another planet. They won't accept me because they will think I am 'American.' "