movie trailer, 1973
'The Holy Mountain' (in Spanish, La Montana Sacra) was intended to be a surrealist treatment of 'heavy themes' and a further exploration of the experimental (some might say ultra-pretentious) style of film-making Alejandro Jodorowsky pioneered in his 1970 film 'El Topo'.
'Mountain' caused a stir at its premiere at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. It thereafter had a limited circulation in 'art house' theatres in the U.S., mainly because it was considered too avant-garde (and sacrilegious) to be picked up by the establishment film distributors of that era.
Jodorowsky wrote, produced, and directed the film, as well as playing the role of 'The Alchemist'. Jodorowsky is of course best known to sci-fi and Heavy Metal magazine fans for his scripting of the comics The Incal and The Metabarons (among others).
I remember seeing 'El Topo' once, back at college in the early 80s, and finding it dull. I haven't seen 'The Holy Mountain', but the trailer seems to give a pretty good sense of its vintage, early 70's Weirdness.
Jodorowsky (who now is 90 years old) has a reputation for being a professional bullshitter, so I don't have an overwhelming desire to watch the DVD of 'The Holy Mountain'. But if you have, feel free to Comment on your reaction to it.............?!
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