Review of The Holy Mountain (1973) by Jim P — 02 Jul 2010

IF you are interested in this movie, then you are obviously here for one of a few reasons: your friend saw this while on hallucinogenics and highly recommended it, you are a fan of Kubrick and heard this director employs similar techniques, you watch every art-house flick you can get your hands on, you are a conspiracy theorist looking for some good background info on the Illuminati, or you stumbled upon it randomly somehow.

If any of the above is true, other than the last, then this is definitely required viewing. If the last is true - well, ummm...let's hope you aren't offended by nudity and sacrilege.

As for the nudity - there's plenty of it. Full frontal, male and female. No, there are no closeup "porn shots", so if that's what you are looking for - just google that topic instead. Think more along the lines of ritualistic group sex a la Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and you'll have an idea of where this is going.

As for the sacrilege - well, that's a tough one. In order to portray his vision, Jodo has to cross some pretty graphic boundaries to get his message across. If you are easily offended - that message will be lost, as you will tune out and toss in Transformers 2 or something. IF you are on hallucinogenics and are looking to expand your awareness of politics and religion, then you might be ok - or you might want to toss in Fantasia and just look at the pretty colors instead. Either way, many religions are covered in this film (some more subtly than others) and they aren't treated with kid gloves.

Now that I've put those two things out there...

Set design is very nice. Remember this is early 70's stuff, purportedly financed by John and Yoko - so all the requisite primary colors are well-represented, and the symbolism in the movie is done with attention to the graphic arts methods of the time.

Camera use, focus and movement is superb. Jodo uses all the tricks of the trade deftly.

Acting...I'm pretty sure nobody walked away with a little gold man in this category. But, the actors aren't really the point of this movie - so perhaps, they are acting better than I actually give them credit for.

Character development - It's here, in its own little way. You are introduced to the characters one way early in the film, and a different way in the latter half. Both work.

Plot development - also present, if a bit disjointed. Easier to follow than say Pulp Fiction was the first time you saw it, but harder than the story of the Von Trapp family and their governess to be sure.

Overall, this movie gets easier to understand and watch as the story progresses. Don't get to caught up in the details early on and bail out. It all makes sense at the end. Really.