Review of Santa Sangre (1989) by Michael Y — 29 Oct 2011

After many years, Alejandro Jodorowsky returns to his good old, fucked up in the head filmmaking that made him a cult star. Santa Sangre is a hell of a lot easier to watch than his earlier work, but including all the intelligence, surrealism and gore to make this movie a brilliant experience.

A Mexican boy lives and works in a circus with his parents. His father is a drunk and womanizer, and his mother is a fanatic of her controvercial religion. When the mother catches the father with another woman, she extracts her revenge, but not without having her arms cut off. This traumatizes the boy and spends years in a mental hospital. But when he grows up he escapes and reunites with his armless mother to work vaudville shows, and when the time comes, KILL for his mother. Very 'Psycho'esque in conciept, Santa Sangre's story is one of lust, revenge, loss of innocence, the influence of evil from family and society, and STRONG Freudian themes. Where Jodorowsky's other movies, El Topo and The Holy Mountain were very sybolically influenced, Santa Sangre is more enjoyable because of its clearly told story. But that's not to say that the story isn't as artistic and brilliant as Jodorowsky's other movies. Santa Sangre is still very visually fantastic, gory, bizarre and controvercial, but this time there's a very sweet and tender love story involving a deaf-mute girl that makes Santa Sangre stand out to become a movie one can really love.

Bizarre costumes and sets is what it's all about, and Santa Sangre is visually incredible and unforgetable. Now that Jodorowsky had a bigger budget to spend, this movie looks more natural, being able to film in real locations than in crazy-ass sets and small villages. There is a lot of details in the sets and costumes that make this movie incredible. The Freudian themes are very clear if you look hard enough at the sets and characters. Those artistic details also do a great job at telling us the story. Even though it had been 16 years since Jodorowsky made The Holy Mountain, it looks like he never lost his touch. Jodorowsky's style is still creative and visually flawless, capturing scenes with great suspence and passion, and at times very tender. He really captures the innocent love very powerfully, and I love that. The camera angles are set up just right, and the directing of the climax is incrediblely moving. Done just right. The lighting is also very creative and colourful, taking us into a surreal world that still looks very gritty and realistic to us, but drifts to a world where the unnatural looks natural. Another brilliant looking movie from one of the most creative directors ever.

Santa Sangre is a visually stimulating movie, intriguing in story and makes you work your brain. This is a very intelligent movie and quite enjoyable. This is definitely my favourite Alejandro Jodorowsky movie. It's gory, interesting, bizarre, and it's all tied up with a love story that'll melt your heart.