The Holy Mountain

Pasta with basil pesto served with slices of August tomato (finally).

The Holy Mountain, 1973, directed, written, produced, co-scored, co-edited by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky.

8-13-2025
I usually don't comment on these films, it's just meant to be a list of my Sunday matinees, a tradition of sorts. I'm making an exception in this case. The Holy Mountain was the subject of a recent film discussion. The person who selected the film did so because it was believed there would be a lot to talk about. And there was. There were people who loved it, others not so much. But one participant made a comment at about eighty minutes into the conversation that gave the conversation so much perspective; The Holy Mountain was juxtaposed with Tati's PlayTime. That's why I'm writing this commentary.

In discussing The Holy Mountain, conversational participants heralded its artistry, its philosophical, religious and mystical references. Other participants had less to say about that. Some saw it as visually striking. I don't think anyone was able to tie all the pieces of the film together, to draw a storyline out of it. Except maybe to say that it looked at this crazy world humanity had created. This brought up a comparison by one participant to Tati's film PlayTime. Tati wanted viewers to look at this crazy world we have created, to gaze into the expanse of the 70 mm picture frame at humans interacting with their environment.

Whereas The Holy Mountain visually interpreted this crazy world through several shocking moments, PlayTime showed us the beauty of this crazy world, the grand comedy of it all. The Holy Mountain, with its surreal imagery, often vulgar and violent, failed to draw me in. PlayTime, comically set in the real world, is far more effective at sharing its visual craziness with me.