In this breathtaking mystical and spiritual western, Jodorowsky retells allegories of several religions to present his audience with an examination of the consequences of action based on every variety of human emotion. Lust, love, rape, compassion, murder, euthanasia, sacrifice, liberation, enslavement, faith, death, and procreation - few stones are left unturned in this desert.
A highly skilled gunfighter who calls himself God travels through the desert with his son and visits the scene of massacre. Seeking righteous vengeance, he tracks down the perpetrators, and, having exacted revenge, abandons his son with a group of Franciscans and adopts the agenda of a woman he has freed from bondage because of his desire for her. This very generally covers the first quarter of the film, and the themes that are implied are re-examined several times throughout the film.
El Topo (the mole, played by Joudorowsky) seeks the light, but as we learn in the opening sequence, the light will instantly blind him. His desires and the actions they inspire progress from primitive detached self-indulgence to redemptive self-sacrifice. He does wonderful things, and loathsome things, and the consequences of his actions are never as he intended. Thematically, the story hints at the connection between Taoist concepts of acting through inaction and mystical aspects of some western religions - simultaneously suggesting that only God can know the mind of God and that if no god exists, humans must acknowledge their dependence on the forces that govern the universe and seek harmony by yielding to them.
Like most westerns, there is a great deal of killing and gun play in El Topo, and the death scenes are often grueling and over-dramatized. Unlike most westerns, however, none of this violence is pointless, and it is not the central action of the story.
Jodorowski is a deeply spiritual film-maker, but is also intensely critical of organized religion and the demystification of religious ideas. He seemingly has little faith in the human ability to conceptualize cosmic forces. Notably, Jodorowsky never makes any statement whatsoever about science.
The meta-narrative of El Topo can be read in many ways, and is the level at which the film achieves high art. Does the transparent allegory of El Topo's life suggest that the Judaeo-Christian god is, himself, blinded by the light and consumed by fires he himself starts? Does the more or less consistent inaction of His son indicate a way out of the catch-22 of causes and effects his actions have set in motion, or does his son's determination to take on the responsibilities and relationships of his father convert the son into a new embodiment of the mole? Or is it human ignorance, willfulness and wickedness which are responsible for all of miseries of human existence? Each thoughtful viewer will take away a different message.
Gender is a major theme in El Topo, and although the main story is clearly presented from an androcentric perspective, Jodorowski adds a lot of details which effectively deconstruct this, and, in some cases, unmask it as an arbitrary convention of patriarchal religious doctrine. When you watch the film, pay particular attention to the voices and bodies of the different characters. I am convinced that these details are not simply added to jar and disorient. Finally, a comparison of the two main female characters - the loves of El Topo's life - is very important in 'getting' this film. One represents true love and true beauty, and the other illustrates something else. And it is significant that it is El Topo and El Topo alone, in his quest for the true path, who brings to his relationships a spiritual aspect. Considered without his self-proclaimed god-hood, there does not appear to be anything supernatural about these women or his relationship with them. Perhaps there is also a comment on agnosticism somewhere in all of this.
Well acted (especially Jodorowski), beautifully shot, and excellently scripted, El Topo is a great film by a great, though eccentric, film maker.
As a non-religious Taoist and scientist, I found it easy to contextualize Jodorowski's story and the messages it appears to carry. I do not, however, pretend that my interpretation is correct. To do so would be an act of violence against the film's art.
If you're up for a brutal film which can not be enjoyed without a great of concentrated thought, I recommend it.
A highly skilled gunfighter who calls himself God travels through the desert with his son and visits the scene of massacre. Seeking righteous vengeance, he tracks down the perpetrators, and, having exacted revenge, abandons his son with a group of Franciscans and adopts the agenda of a woman he has freed from bondage because of his desire for her. This very generally covers the first quarter of the film, and the themes that are implied are re-examined several times throughout the film.
El Topo (the mole, played by Joudorowsky) seeks the light, but as we learn in the opening sequence, the light will instantly blind him. His desires and the actions they inspire progress from primitive detached self-indulgence to redemptive self-sacrifice. He does wonderful things, and loathsome things, and the consequences of his actions are never as he intended. Thematically, the story hints at the connection between Taoist concepts of acting through inaction and mystical aspects of some western religions - simultaneously suggesting that only God can know the mind of God and that if no god exists, humans must acknowledge their dependence on the forces that govern the universe and seek harmony by yielding to them.
Like most westerns, there is a great deal of killing and gun play in El Topo, and the death scenes are often grueling and over-dramatized. Unlike most westerns, however, none of this violence is pointless, and it is not the central action of the story.
Jodorowski is a deeply spiritual film-maker, but is also intensely critical of organized religion and the demystification of religious ideas. He seemingly has little faith in the human ability to conceptualize cosmic forces. Notably, Jodorowsky never makes any statement whatsoever about science.
The meta-narrative of El Topo can be read in many ways, and is the level at which the film achieves high art. Does the transparent allegory of El Topo's life suggest that the Judaeo-Christian god is, himself, blinded by the light and consumed by fires he himself starts? Does the more or less consistent inaction of His son indicate a way out of the catch-22 of causes and effects his actions have set in motion, or does his son's determination to take on the responsibilities and relationships of his father convert the son into a new embodiment of the mole? Or is it human ignorance, willfulness and wickedness which are responsible for all of miseries of human existence? Each thoughtful viewer will take away a different message.
Gender is a major theme in El Topo, and although the main story is clearly presented from an androcentric perspective, Jodorowski adds a lot of details which effectively deconstruct this, and, in some cases, unmask it as an arbitrary convention of patriarchal religious doctrine. When you watch the film, pay particular attention to the voices and bodies of the different characters. I am convinced that these details are not simply added to jar and disorient. Finally, a comparison of the two main female characters - the loves of El Topo's life - is very important in 'getting' this film. One represents true love and true beauty, and the other illustrates something else. And it is significant that it is El Topo and El Topo alone, in his quest for the true path, who brings to his relationships a spiritual aspect. Considered without his self-proclaimed god-hood, there does not appear to be anything supernatural about these women or his relationship with them. Perhaps there is also a comment on agnosticism somewhere in all of this.
Well acted (especially Jodorowski), beautifully shot, and excellently scripted, El Topo is a great film by a great, though eccentric, film maker.
As a non-religious Taoist and scientist, I found it easy to contextualize Jodorowski's story and the messages it appears to carry. I do not, however, pretend that my interpretation is correct. To do so would be an act of violence against the film's art.
If you're up for a brutal film which can not be enjoyed without a great of concentrated thought, I recommend it.