Alejandro Jodorowsky, Thoughts on Montana Sacra

[Cyril Tourneur]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JyEIBdteBVQ



First some wikipedia facts about Jodorowsky's biography:

Alejandro Jodorowsky or Alexandro Jodorowsky (

IPA

International_Phonetic_Alphabet

: [ɑː.lɛ.ˈxɑːn.drɒ jɒ.dɒ.ˈrɒv.skiː]) (born

February 7

February_7

,

1929

1929

, in

Iquique

Iquique

,

Chile

Chile

) is a

philosopher

Philosopher

,

scholar

Scholar

in

comparative religion

Comparative_religion

,

playwright

Playwright

,

director

Film_director

,

producer

Film_producer

,

composer

Composer

,

actor

Actor

,

mime

Mime_artist

,

comic book

Comic_book

writer

Writer

, tarot card reader and historian, and

psychotherapist

Psychotherapist

.

Early Years

Jodorowsky began his artistic activities at a very young age inspired greatly by film and literature. He began publishing his poetry in Chile when he was 16. At this time he worked alongside the Chilean poets,

Nicanor Parra

Nicanor_Parra

and

Enrique Lihn

Enrique_Lihn

. He developed an interest in puppetry and mime. At 17, he debuted as an actor and a year later he created the pantomime troupe, Teatro Mimico. In 1953 Jodorowsky wrote his first play, El Minotauro. That same year he traveled to Paris to study pantomime with

Etienne Decroux

Etienne_Decroux

, the teacher of

Marcel Marceau

Marcel_Marceau

. The next year he joined Marcel Marceau theatre troupe; the performances realized during this collaboration toured worldwide. After performing in Mexico in 1960, Jodorowsky decide to continue his stay in order to pursue other theatrical endeavors.

My opinion on 'Montana Sacra'

The major problem with Alejandro Jodorowsky's films is that the imagery does not stand alone; it stands for something else. The essence of surrealism, of course, is its lack of rational coherence, its absence of logic and meaning. The images in 'Un Chien Andalou' were dreamt up, while Jodorowsky's are contrived. He imposes meaning and does not seem to believe in free association. He is, in a word, didactic.

'The Holy Mountain,' an improvement upon his muddy cult epic 'El Topo,' begins promisingly enough with an eerie, wordless prologue in a temple in which the heads of two women are shaved by a cloaked deity as an initiation rite. The imagery here is striking, as is the imagery throughout most of the film, but I dare say it'd all be a lot more significant with the volume muted.

What follows is, initially, strained attempts at blasphemy serving alone as satire on Christianity, with a Christ-like figure smoking herb and making kissy-kissy with a limbless midget, and then happening upon a Christ factory (representing Christianity as a commercial product, in case you're slow). Following this, we see a reenactment of the Mexican revolution with a cast of frogs. After this display, our hero is led into the peak of a tower through a rainbow-colored corridor, where an alchemist locks him in a retort and his excrement is transformed into gold. Pelicans appear. The movie evolves again, this time into a satire on consumerism.

This initially striking feature becomes more grating as time wears on, and the juvenile tone of its satiric statement seriously compromises the power of its visual compositions. My heart sank as the film drifted further away from ambiguity and abstraction into the land of the cerebral and polemical. Jodorowsky is more suited for comic art and graphic novels than films, as the reconciliation between literal ideas and otherwise abstract images here is poor. Jodorowsky himself appears unmasked in the final scene, with a revelation that seems wrongheaded and smug.

[The Silent One]

It seems, from what I've read, that Jodorowsky should be more absorbed than digested... Like many paintings, I suppose, in particular Dalí (he read way too much into it).

[Cyril Tourneur]

Exactly, this is why nowadays I rate Bunuel much higher than Jodorowski, although I admired the latter one in my youth, but since I read that he plans to shoot a movie with that overrated mainstreamer Marilyn Manson I assume that he just wants to get attention; here's for example ' Un chien andalou' by Bunuel:

un chien andalou

[maya]

Trying to compare ritualistic to surrealistic... to risky.
Holy Mountain is a mans initiation rite.
A soul labyrinth.
Don't ask Alexandro...

no gods

[Cyril Tourneur]

I can only agree partially...Bunuel and Jodorowsky delved into the same sources, but whereas Bunuel allows a a free anticipation of the imagination, Jodorowsky shows it much too explicit and visually at least in 'Montana Sacra' and I also think in 'Santa Sangre'. His approach at 'Montana Sacra' was totally different compared to 'El Topo' (his masterpiece, which is definately surrealistic instead of ritualistic);the first part is about the confrontation between Jesus Christ and four prophets, and the second one about Buddhism (if you plan to see one film of him that's the one).

[Adele]

Wow,Jodorowsky and Marilyn Manson? Although maybe I shouldn't be, i'm surpised and disgusted. Why won't Marilyn Manson go away? I was sure that after the 90's he'd be history, but here it is 2008 and he's still popping up from time to time.

[paeng]

Don't forget to check UbuWeb and Grey Lodge for any references to his work and others.

[paeng]

An excerpt from the book Spiritual Journey, linked in the Technoccult web log:

http://realitysandwich.com/transmitting_shrouds_dead