Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Holy Mountain

There is much to say about this film. It is certainly a masterpiece of the grotesque genre, even though as the minutes pass, the film becomes less "dystopian" and gradually more comprehensible, revealing something extremely realistic. Before that, there is the fantastic scene depicting the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards through a fight between disguised iguanas (genius). Throughout the film, there is a subtle critique of the 20th and 21st-century society that ranges from the profanation and replicability of the image of Jesus Christ (Christs for sale), to criticism of the Church, which has lost its spiritual values (during the church women scenes or that of the priest in bed which also includes a reference to Michelangelo's "Pietà", among countless other references to the symbolism of various religions), to the attempt to become Jesus and thus become or feel like God when Horacio Salinas (the thief) eats the mannequin of God's son, the emphasis on the futility of money (when the Alchemist says: "You are nothing but shit, you can change yourself into gold"), the denouncement of a violent police force, which is nonetheless protected and defended as everything gets covered up... (a very current theme with the recent killing of George Floyd or the G8 in Genoa in July 2001, from which a film was derived), moving forward (later in the film) with the parody and satire of the other 8 elected: the most powerful industrialists and politicians on Earth (though they come from various planets of the solar system) and their vices: such as Fon's lust and vanity (from Venus, the goddess of beauty), a Don Juan who attracts all women. Moreover, during Fon's presentation, the director, Alejandro Jodorowsky, includes the overused critique of a society that, rather than being, appears (the mask scene). Other intrinsic characteristics of the remaining elected are malice, cruelty, sadism, and incitement to hate and war by Isla (from Mars, the god of War) and Sel (who initially seems like a friendly clown only to later reveal as an insensitive general) embodying mass media, brainwashing everyone, starting from childhood. Then there's Klen, a supposed drug-addicted artist who is somewhat the embodiment of all those who consider themselves artists but are not (the beautiful scene where models with painted bottoms sit on canvases as if to say that Klen's art is made with the butt) whose "art" is laden with eroticism (the erotic machine scene is deeply unsettling). Berg, instead, is the symbol of the economy that governs the world, emblematic of the scene where Berg himself, economic advisor to the president, states that 4 million people need to be exterminated in the next 5 years, and the president picks up the phone and executes the order (possibly a reference to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," where the narrator of the satirical pamphlet suggests that the English government kill children and eat them given the scarcity of food and to reduce overpopulation). Axon is the representation of violence and is a critique of police and military who, in following a code at all costs, become violent. Last but not least is Lut, the architect with the crazy idea of having people live in coffins, as if they were doghouses, serving as homes to save money on construction. After the presentation of the characters, there follows the abandonment of material things, vices, fears, and the self of the latter, and the start of a journey of sacrifice. Finally, one last thing to emphasize is the Pantheon Bar, a kind of funfair (a symbol of our present society where it is no longer known what is true and what is not) where all sorts of charlatans gather: from fortune tellers to drug dealers to con artists. To recap, the main themes are abandonment, spirituality, immortality, love, and life. The ending is brilliant as it reveals that it was just a film, delivering the message that what the elected did can be done by each one of us in real life.