Review of El Topo (1970) by Mjs M — 22 Apr 2008

All right, now this is a weird movie. This is a hard film to describe, it?s basically a Leone-esque spaghetti Western, but with the weirdness turned up to eleven. The film features shocking violence which is somehow less shocking the way it is filmed, there?s a lot of strange homo-erotic imagery, both male and female, also the plot makes little or no sense on a traditional narrative level.

That said, as a purely surreal film this is very good at what it wants to be. Pure surrealism is a cinematic trait that?s rarely attempted, which is part of what makes this film so unique, that and the fact that it?s batshit insane.

I was mesmerized by the film, but it left me asking two key questions: what was director Alejandro Jodorowsky smoking when he made this thing, and where can I get some?