Review of El Topo (1970) by Tristan G — 21 Mar 2009

Prepare to Experience one of the most Wonderful Experiences of Your Life!

This film, EL TOPO is an exciting and emotionally draining experience. Absolutely amazing. it is such a privilege to finally view this fantastic film. This is the kind of film that really makes you smile at some of the wonderful things about film and the power of film and what it can represent. I am so happy that more people have the opportunity to finally watch it.

I cannot describe the plot as any description of it, no matter how vague or subtle, will not keep it from sounding ridiculous or silly. I guess the only thing I could say is that it's about a warrior and his son looking for eternal peace and happiness, but have to kill a lot of evil people to do it. at least, that's what the film starts as. it soon becomes an allegory for saving an army of mutated humans. This film is a lot of things. It is not quite a western nor is it quite an action film. It isn't quite a romance, nor is it straight out horror film. It isn't quite a biography, nor is it quite a crime film. It is not quite a religious film as it contains all religions within the characters. It is hard to put a label on this film because it is so outside the realm of being labeled as anything. I feel that this film belongs in a specific group, but i'm not quite sure if it has anything other then this film. I feel that this film represents more than just a simple form of art or a simple form of expressionism. This film represents a kind of specific audience point of view of people who want to be pleased by a type of film that is weird in a comfortable way. The film has so many satisfying details, from the set design to the story (spanning more than 40 years), the natural way events play out, the extreme violence and gore, the fine madness of the characters surrounding the main one, and the human interactions and how the characters differences in their bodies or the way they think don't get in the way. The film is very humorous too. There are several parts that I did find very darkly funny. I don't want to ruin anything, but there is a very predictable part involving a gun and the people not taking the weapon seriously enough to allow any person to try it out on themselves. It's quite dark and pretty sinister, but I laughed at it's extremity because you just don't get that kind of effect from the usual film. When I say the film is flawless, I don't mean technically, I mean flawless in representing the filmmaker, Alejandro Jodrowsky's intentions of the film and it's representation of himself and his life. Since the film is meant to partly be autobiographical, it allows him to use himself in all of his personal designs and representations of how he thinks and what he wants to present on the screen. I feel since he used his own son as a key character (his character is a priest in the second half of the film) and used his voice to dub in a large portion of the characters to place them in easier context to himself, he is able to further demonstrate his own vision even further. This is a man who didn't have a happy childhood with his father trying to force him not to have children to not carry on the family name and eventually being gay, it's an interesting choice to have the main character kill off a manifestation of his father early in the film. Many people that I know probably know who director Alejandro Jodrowsky is, especially if they are Marilyn Manson fans since that dude practically worships him. But if you are interested in midnight films or cult films, this film practically invented them, so I highly recommend this wonderful film.