Review of El Topo (1970) by John W — 11 Jan 2011
Brilliant mixture of exploitation, religion, gunfights, and the Wild West. This was hugely entertaining, plus had some great characters.
El Topo starts out as a vengeful cowboy, then seeks the four masters, who all give him advice to seek enlightenment, but he ignores their messages, and tricks them to kill them. All this he does for the love of a woman.
However, the woman kills him. He is resurrected and becomes a monk to help the Lost Children.
His character evolves throughout, first being completely unlikeable, to being a very sympathetic character.
When his journey to his personal enlightenment is complete, he cannot live with what he has seen and kills himself, ending his story.
Great imagery and symbolism.
This review of El Topo (1970) was written by John W on 11 Jan 2011.
El Topo has generally received positive reviews.
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