Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Year: 1970
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish
Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist Western El Topo is undoubtedly one of the strangest films I have ever seen. It is an epic trip through the mind, a unique experience where not even the hardest of drugs can take you. I had been introduced to Jodorowsky's strange , alluring works of art by way of The Holy Mountain. An odd film that I didn't understand then or now, nor do I think I ever will in the near future. El Topo is more conventional and a bit easier to understand, though it's still something only a madman could make.
While El Topo is a western, it is far from any western you have ever seen. It stars Director Alejandro Jodorowsky as the title character who confronts great warriors throughout his transformative journey through the vast desert. He begins this journey with his young son, who must leave his childhood totems behind, burying them in the sand, in order to become a man.Dressed in black gunfighter clothes he claims to be God. The landscape is of those mythical westerns we've seen in many American movies, Ancient Eastern religious symbols cloud this film.as El Topo tries to find his way in this world.
The incredible and sometimes outright shocking images are what make this film well known. In 1970 it was an underground hit for several months in New York, on one fateful day the legendary musician John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono saw it. They were amazed by how good it was and convinced the Beatles manager Allen Klein to buy it and release it. Afterwards it was shown all over the world and out sprung countless theories about what this film is about. Nowadays you can find loads among loads of interpretations of what the film is about, very few will agree with one another. I have my own iideas, but it changes every time I see this film. That is the beauty of Alejandro Jodorowsky's work, they evoke every emotion imaginable and stir the mind into a frenzy. They make the audience think and are in no way mindless entertainment. El Topo is a mystery wrapped in a riddle and served with a side of enigma.
Alejandro Jodorowsky is a man without limits on his imagination. Many people over the years have claimed that he must be on drugs because his films are so strange and a large number of people have purposely taken various hallucinogens before his film, though this is not the case. In many interviews Jodorowsky has condemned the use of drugs, saying that it puts restrictions on the imagination. In one interview he said "I don't understand why people don't get it, you do drugs and you drink and you die. Is it difficult to understand?"
In conclusion, El Topo is filled with astounding cinematography, odd images and incredible symbolism. Even without pointless drugs it is a completely mind-blowing experience that you will never forget. I saw it again a few days ago and I'm still thinking about how unique it was. Was it about a man trying to fight his demons and find his spirituality or does it go deeper than that? I have to warn that it can get very violent, so it's not for everybody, but I say watch it and decide for yourself. Praise it! 5/5
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