The Holy Mountain (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)In a culture desensitized by violent brutality and computer-generated wizardry, it may be enough to say that I watched The Holy Mountain, which contains neither, with my mouth hanging open the entire time. I still can't quite believe that such a film was ever made, though I've long sensed that such a film should be. While not overtly violent, The Holy Mountain is punctuated by graphic, shocking and heretical images, but these only form one aspect of its jaw-dropping resonance. Jodorowsky's film is original, audacious, visually and thematically inspired. It's also kind of funny.
In essence the film is a series of literalized metaphors about the archetypal spiritual journey to experience reality beyond illusion, a quest motivated by a desire to transcend the absurd horrors of civilization: war, greed, corruption, self-obsession and the politics of power. As such the characters and events themselves are largely symbolic. Unlike a lot of avant-garde films, Holy Mountain's narrative is structured and surprisingly linear, though it flowers like a rambling, slightly disjointed dream.
Jodorowsky's spiritual path is an unflinching synthesis of the basic conceptual and aesthetic elements of many mystical traditions, including Zen's formal simplicity, Kabbalic and Hindu ritual, Alchemical processes, Shamanic trials, master/student dynamics and the mythology of the Holy Mountain itself, all of which are gracefully blended into the artful and psychedelic texture of the film.
Despite the clichéd "ancient wisdom" aspect of some moments, The Holy Mountain achieves what is a fairly fresh and ultimately tongue-in-cheek attempt to enlighten the audience. Sometimes the pacing and editing of the film feel a little dated, but this usually adds to the film's unique style rather than diminish it. The Holy Mountain is an ambitious film, provocative in its boldness and charming in its outlandishness, and traveling with these seekers will undoubtedly color our own journeys, both inner and outer...


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The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky's flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism is a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their wordly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe. -Alan Jones

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Straw Dogs (1971) Review

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(More customer reviews)People seem to love or hate this movie. I love it. Dustin Hoffman plays professor on "sabbatical" to write a book on astronomy and computers. There is some allusion to his having been driven to his sabbatical (or from his job) because of his refusal to take a stand over some undefined issue at his place of employment. In any case, he retreats to a farmhouse in rural England with his pretty wife, played by Susan George.
When some of the local underemployed thugs start bullying him--(The script and Peckinpah's direction of the actors hits bull's-eye here; having lived in England, I saw the same sort of behavior--punks all over, I guess, have mannerisms of bullying peculiar to their culture.)
The violent climax to this film is--you hate to say it--beautiful. It certainly isn't gorey by today's standards. This, perhaps, is what makes people so uncomfortable about this movie--their own reaction to the violence. Hoffman conveys wonderfully both the fear and the satisfaction his character is experiencing.
At one level, this film exists as a simple tale of revenge. At another level, the movie affirm's Peckinpah's vision of violence as a rite of manhood. Whether this rite is a regrettable one . . . well, that remains arguable, and this ambiguity is part of what makes this such a watchable, and re-watchable, movie.

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Brace yourself for the extended version of this daring and provocative drama from the director of The Wild Bunch. Starring Dustin Hoffman in a 'superbly realized(Time) performance, thisbrilliant(Cue), disturbing film charts one man's brutally violent journey from cowardice to courage and deliversone helluva jolt(Playboy)!

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