The Holy Mountain (1973 film)

The Holy Mountain (Spanish: La montaña sagrada) is a 1973 Mexican surreal film directed, written, produced, co-scored, co-edited by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, who also participated as a set designer and costume designer on the film.[4] Following Jodorowsky's underground hit El Topo, acclaimed by both John Lennon and George Harrison, the film was produced by the Beatles manager Allen Klein of ABKCO Music and Records. Lennon and Yoko Ono put up production money. It was shown at various international film festivals in 1973, including Cannes,[5] and limited screenings in New York and San Francisco.

The Holy Mountain
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlejandro Jodorowsky
Written byAlejandro Jodorowsky
Produced by
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky
  • Roberto Viskin
Starring
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky
  • Horacio Salinas
  • Zamira Saunders
CinematographyRafael Corkidi
Edited by
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky
  • Federico Landeros
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byABKCO Films
Release dates
  • May 1973 (1973-05) (Cannes)
  • 27 November 1973 (1973-11-27) (United States)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryMexico
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
Budget$750,000[1][2]
Box office$104,160 (re-issue)[3]

Plot

A man (later identified as the thief), representing The Fool tarot card, lies in the desert with flies covering his face. He is befriended by a footless, handless dwarf representing the Five of Swords, and the pair travel into the city where they make money entertaining tourists. Because the thief resembles Jesus Christ in appearance, some locals—a nun and three warriors—cast an impression of his body and sell the resulting crucifixes. After a dispute with a priest, the thief eats off the face of his wax statue and sends it skyward with balloons, symbolically eating the body of Christ and offering "himself" up to Heaven. Soon after, he notices a crowd gathered around a tall tower, where a large hook with a bag of gold has been sent down in exchange for food.

The thief, wishing to find the source of the gold, ascends the tower. There he finds the alchemist and his silent assistant. After a confrontation with the alchemist, the thief defecates into a container. The excrement is transformed into gold by the alchemist, who proclaims: "You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold." The thief accepts the gold, but smashes a mirror with the gold when shown his reflection. The alchemist then takes the thief as an apprentice.

The thief is introduced to seven people who will accompany him on his journey. Each is introduced as a personification of one of the planets, in particular the negative characteristics that are associated with the respective planet. They consist of a cosmetics manufacturer representing Venus, a weapons manufacturer representing Mars, a millionaire art dealer representing Jupiter, a war toy maker representing Saturn, a political financial advisor representing Uranus, a police chief representing Neptune, and an architect representing Pluto. The alchemist instructs the seven to burn their money as well as wax effigies of themselves. Together with the alchemist, the thief, and the alchemist's assistant, they form a group of ten.

The characters are led by the alchemist through various transformation rituals. The ten journey by boat to "Lotus Island" in order to gain the secret of immortality from nine immortal masters who live on a holy mountain. Once on Lotus Island they are sidetracked by the Pantheon Bar, a cemetery party where people have abandoned their quest for the holy mountain and instead engage in drugs, poetry, or acts of physical prowess. Leaving the bar behind, they ascend the mountain. Each has a personal symbolic vision representing their worst fears and obsessions.

Near the top, the thief is sent back to his "people" along with a young prostitute and an ape who have followed him from the city to the mountain. The rest confront the cloaked immortals, who are shown to be only faceless dummies. The alchemist then breaks the fourth wall with the command "Zoom back, camera!" and reveals the film apparatus (cameras, microphones, lights, and crew) just outside the frame. He instructs everyone, including the audience of the film, to leave the holy mountain: "Goodbye to the Holy Mountain. Real life awaits us."

Cast
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky as The Alchemist
  • Horacio Salinas as The Thief
  • Ramona Saunders as The Written Woman
  • Juan Ferrara as Fon
  • Adriana Page as Isla
  • Burt Kleiner as Klen
  • Valerie Jodorowsky as Sel
  • Nicky Nichols as Berg
  • Richard Rutowsky as Axon
  • Luis Lomelí as Lut
  • Ana de Sade as The Prostitute
  • David Silva as Fon's Father
  • Basilio González as The Crippled Man
  • Lupita Peruyero as Berg's Wife
  • Héctor Ortega as Drug's Master
  • Connie de la Mora as Bald Woman
  • Leticia Robles as Bald Woman
  • Blanca Sánchez as Woman with Mirror

Production

Inspiration

The film is based on Ascent of Mount Carmel by John of the Cross and Mount Analogue by René Daumal, who was a student of George Gurdjieff. In this film, much of Jodorowsky's visually psychedelic story follows the metaphysical thrust of Mount Analogue. This is revealed in such events as the climb to the alchemist, the assembly of individuals with specific skills, the discovery of the mountain that unites Heaven and Earth "that cannot not exist", and symbolic challenges along the mountain ascent. Daumal died before finishing his allegorical novel, and Jodorowsky's improvised ending provides a way of completing the work (both symbolically and otherwise).

Preparation

Before the principal photography would commence, Jodorowsky and his wife spent a week without sleep under the direction of a Japanese Zen master.[6]

The central members of the cast spent three months doing various spiritual exercises guided by Oscar Ichazo of the Arica Institute. The Arica training features Zen, Sufi and yoga exercises along with eclectic concepts drawn from the Kabbalah, the I Ching and the teachings of George Gurdjieff. After the training, the group lived for one month communally in Jodorowsky's home before production.[6] Thereafter, the filming started in early 1972. The film was shot sequentially, entirely in Mexico, at a budget of $750,000.[6]

Jodorowsky was also instructed by Ichazo to take LSD for the purpose of spiritual exploration. He also administered psilocybin mushrooms to the actors during the shooting of the death-rebirth scene.

Release

The Holy Mountain was completed just in time for the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, where it was much awaited.[7] Jodorowsky edited out twenty minutes of dialogue from the film, with the intention of removing as much dialogue as he could.[6] The film had its premiere at Waverly Theatre, an art house movie theater in New York City on 29 November 1973, where it had restricted run at midnights on Friday and Saturday for sixteen months.[8][9] It was also shown at Filmex on 30 March 1974, which was described as the "American premiere."[10] At a few places it was released as a double bill with Jodorowsky's 1970 film, El Topo, and eventually became a cult film with its influence on popular culture.[6][11]

In 2010, the Alamo Drafthouse held a screening of The Holy Mountain as part of their "High for the Holidays" event. To commemorate this event, a limited-edition movie poster was designed by German artist Florian Bertmer.

The DVD's extra segment includes a deleted scene in which we see two children; a young Brontis Jodorowsky and a naked girl, watching a cross made from television sets. In his commentary, Jodorowsky explains how the scene was deleted because the girl's mother threatened to sue for potential pedophilia because of the young girl's nudity. [12]

Home media

The film was not given a wide release until over 30 years following its original premiere, except for two heavily censored Japanese LaserDisc releases.[13][14] A restored print was shown in Cannes on 23 May 2006.[15][16] It toured the United States, screening with El Topo. It was released in DVD format on 1 May 2007,[17] and a Blu-ray was released on 26 April 2011.[18]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Holy Mountain holds an approval rating of 84%, based on 25 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10. Its consensus reads, "A visual treat rich in symbolism, The Holy Mountain adds another defiantly idiosyncratic chapter to Jodorowsky's thoroughly unique filmography."[19]

References
  1. Jones, Will (27 July 2017). "10 Reasons Why "The Holy Mountain" is The Best Surreal Movie Ever". Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  2. Smalley, Gregory J. (30 March 2011). "83. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973)". 366 Weird Movies. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  3. "The Holy Mountain". Box Office Mojo. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  4. Verrone, William E.B. (11 October 2011). The Avant-Garde Feature Film: A Critical History. McFarland. pp. 197–. ISBN 978-0-7864-8881-0.
  5. "Festival de Cannes: The Holy Mountain". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  6. Ernest, Mathijs; Xavier, Mendik (2007). The Cult Film Reader. McGraw-Hill International. pp. 291–292. ISBN 978-0-335-21923-0.
  7. Staff Writer (23 April 1973). "'Mountain' to be Shown at Cannes". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Hoberman, J.; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (1983). Midnight Movies. Harper & Row. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-06-015052-5.
  9. Klein, Theodore (13 January 1974). "They Kill Animals And They Call It Art". The New York Times.
  10. Kilday, Gregg (19 April 1974). "The '74 Filmex Breaks All Records". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017 – via Newspapers.com. 17 American premieres (among them Orson Welles' 'Fake?,' Claude Whatham's 'That'll Be the Day,' Alexandre Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain," and Paul Ver-hoeven's "Turkish Delight") and 17 sold-out programs.
  11. Mazur, Eric Michael (2011). Encyclopedia of Religion and Film. ABC-CLIO. pp. 334–. ISBN 978-0-313-33072-8.
  12. The Holy Mountain, p. 59 at Google Books
  13. osi (26 February 2004). "Holy Mountain, The (1973)(Uncut)[NDH-108]". LDDB. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  14. osi (25 December 2002). "Holy Mountain, The (1973) [AML-0046]". LDDB. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  15. Staff Writer (2006). "2006 Tribute". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  16. Papamichos, Jim (24 May 2006). "59th Festival De Cannes: May 23 & 24 2006". MyFilm. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017.
  17. Erickson, Glenn (22 April 2007). "The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky". DVD Talk.
  18. Landy, Tom (7 February 2011). "'El Topo' & 'The Holy Mountain' Blu-rays Announced". High Def Digest. Internet Brands Inc. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  19. "The Holy Mountain (1973) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Fandango Media. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
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