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Last updated: 08 Jun 2026 at 18:28 UTC

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Review of by Brett R — 09 May 2008

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Here we have an example of what can be achieved by a skillful director and editor, without any fancy special effects.

An intricately assembled film, El Topo exists on the boarder between revisionist westerns, and surrealist social commentary. If a viewer were ignorant of either genre, they could easily view it as one and not the other. Those that are familiar with both will be enraptured trying to read each scene as both genres at once.

The film is also revolutionary; never has a story with so much plot been communicated so well with so little dialog. Of all the talkies produced in the in the last 3/4 century, only El Topo matches the silent films of out in it's utilization of non-verbal communicative power of cinema. Anyone who truly believes that a movie can be a work of art should love this film.

This review of El Topo (1970) was written by on 09 May 2008.

El Topo has generally received positive reviews.

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