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#676 - El Topo
Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970
A gunslinger travels through the desert and encounters a variety of bizarre individuals on his journey.
When I first started getting into film as a serious hobby, I heard about a great number of films that were intriguing not just because of their apparent quality but also because of their sheer rareness. This much is definitely true of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, who I first heard about after reading about his sophomore feature El Topo. The film, a surreal Western about the eponymous gunslinger and the many strange experiences that he has in his quest to become the greatest gunman in the world, had built a cult reputation as one of the original "midnight movies" yet it was still something of a rarity when I first heard about it. Eventually, it got released on local DVD in either 2007 or 2008 and I naturally jumped at the chance to see this legendarily weird film. Naturally, I really liked it and went on to watch a few more Jodorowsky films. However, I never really got around to re-watching it until recently, when I found out that there'd be a proper theatrical screening of it recently I found the prospect very interesting and naturally settled down to revisit El Topo.
Unfortunately, if there's a problem that seems to unite every Jodorowsky film (or at least those I've seen more than once), it's that the extreme emphasis on surrealist spectacle above all else does mean that the film is bound to lose a lot of its power on repeat viewings. El Topo doesn't exactly have the most complex of plots as it pinballs from vignette to vignette in very much the same way that El Topo himself goes in search of a purpose. As such, the film is arguably broken into three relatively identifiable parts. The first sees El Topo and his son follow a trail of human wreckage caused by a corrupt military official and his degenerate subordinates. The second sees El Topo traveling with a woman who encourages him to fight against the four greatest gunfighters in the land so that he can be the very best. The third sees El Topo working to free a community of deformed cave-dwellers from their subterranean home by earning the charity of the local townsfolk and building a tunnel with the proceeds. To be fair, there is a clear progression as El Topo starts off being nigh-indistinguishable from the stereotypical Western anti-hero who will fight against the unambiguously evil on behalf of the innocents that they terrorise (even if he does so in some incredibly vicious ways). Things get murkier as his quest to become the best gunslinger alive subverts the expected narrative as El Topo realises that he is severely outclassed by his opponents not just in terms of fighting abilities but also in terms of their personal philosophies, which do recall states of enlightenment instead of his misguided quest for glory. Finally, there is his attempt to redeem himself by being reborn as a monk-like figure and intending to save the less fortunate, which starts off promisingly but soon falls apart for a multitude of reasons. Underneath the film's bizarre imagery, there's a recognisable structure.
Despite Jodorowsky's attempt to supplant a recognisable Western storyline with a cavalcade of images designed to evoke everything from slapstick humour to spiritual contemplation, the second time around it's just boring. Sure, this time around I can concentrate on what the movie is trying to say underneath its superficial weirdness, but it's not really saying too much of note. There's a fairly flat juxtaposition of religious subjects, with El Topo's journey being framed as one towards Zen enlightenment in a way that feeds into the film's vicious satire of Christianity (which is best exemplified by what is quite possibly the most messed-up game of Russian roulette in cinema history), to say nothing of the perverted ways in which bandits are seen mistreating a group of monks early on in the film. The prospect of El Topo dueling the greatest gunfighters fills the second act reasonably well, though it's still given over to dwelling on his relationship with the woman he rescues (which does take some unfortunate turns, such as when he grants her his Moses-like powers to find food and water in the desert by raping her). Even the very unorthodox duels that take place only go so far as they are not given over to tension so much as quasi-philosophical mumblings that define the four masters and explain just why they are fundamentally better at everything than El Topo.
While I doubt that Jodorowsky packs out his films with confrontational imagery for the sake of mere counter-cultural shock value, it's not like the meanings behind them come across as any more profound when the shock value has worn off. As a result, El Topo does seem awfully compromised on a second viewing. It's technically decent in terms of cinematography and production design, adding in some interesting touches such as El Topo's leather ensemble or the omnipresent iconography of the Eye of Providence scattered around the town. Even though I haven't seen it in what must be several years now, this time around I found it a serious slog (which seemed especially pronounced given the theatrical setting - surely one of the original midnight movies would have proved even better with an appreciative audience, but sadly this was not the case here). I suppose that El Topo has enough in the way of compelling visuals to make it worth watching at least once, but a second viewing really does not yield much more except a clarification of not only a lack of depth but also some more problematic aspects in regards to subjects like women, homosexuality, and animal cruelty.
Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970
A gunslinger travels through the desert and encounters a variety of bizarre individuals on his journey.
When I first started getting into film as a serious hobby, I heard about a great number of films that were intriguing not just because of their apparent quality but also because of their sheer rareness. This much is definitely true of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, who I first heard about after reading about his sophomore feature El Topo. The film, a surreal Western about the eponymous gunslinger and the many strange experiences that he has in his quest to become the greatest gunman in the world, had built a cult reputation as one of the original "midnight movies" yet it was still something of a rarity when I first heard about it. Eventually, it got released on local DVD in either 2007 or 2008 and I naturally jumped at the chance to see this legendarily weird film. Naturally, I really liked it and went on to watch a few more Jodorowsky films. However, I never really got around to re-watching it until recently, when I found out that there'd be a proper theatrical screening of it recently I found the prospect very interesting and naturally settled down to revisit El Topo.
Unfortunately, if there's a problem that seems to unite every Jodorowsky film (or at least those I've seen more than once), it's that the extreme emphasis on surrealist spectacle above all else does mean that the film is bound to lose a lot of its power on repeat viewings. El Topo doesn't exactly have the most complex of plots as it pinballs from vignette to vignette in very much the same way that El Topo himself goes in search of a purpose. As such, the film is arguably broken into three relatively identifiable parts. The first sees El Topo and his son follow a trail of human wreckage caused by a corrupt military official and his degenerate subordinates. The second sees El Topo traveling with a woman who encourages him to fight against the four greatest gunfighters in the land so that he can be the very best. The third sees El Topo working to free a community of deformed cave-dwellers from their subterranean home by earning the charity of the local townsfolk and building a tunnel with the proceeds. To be fair, there is a clear progression as El Topo starts off being nigh-indistinguishable from the stereotypical Western anti-hero who will fight against the unambiguously evil on behalf of the innocents that they terrorise (even if he does so in some incredibly vicious ways). Things get murkier as his quest to become the best gunslinger alive subverts the expected narrative as El Topo realises that he is severely outclassed by his opponents not just in terms of fighting abilities but also in terms of their personal philosophies, which do recall states of enlightenment instead of his misguided quest for glory. Finally, there is his attempt to redeem himself by being reborn as a monk-like figure and intending to save the less fortunate, which starts off promisingly but soon falls apart for a multitude of reasons. Underneath the film's bizarre imagery, there's a recognisable structure.
Despite Jodorowsky's attempt to supplant a recognisable Western storyline with a cavalcade of images designed to evoke everything from slapstick humour to spiritual contemplation, the second time around it's just boring. Sure, this time around I can concentrate on what the movie is trying to say underneath its superficial weirdness, but it's not really saying too much of note. There's a fairly flat juxtaposition of religious subjects, with El Topo's journey being framed as one towards Zen enlightenment in a way that feeds into the film's vicious satire of Christianity (which is best exemplified by what is quite possibly the most messed-up game of Russian roulette in cinema history), to say nothing of the perverted ways in which bandits are seen mistreating a group of monks early on in the film. The prospect of El Topo dueling the greatest gunfighters fills the second act reasonably well, though it's still given over to dwelling on his relationship with the woman he rescues (which does take some unfortunate turns, such as when he grants her his Moses-like powers to find food and water in the desert by raping her). Even the very unorthodox duels that take place only go so far as they are not given over to tension so much as quasi-philosophical mumblings that define the four masters and explain just why they are fundamentally better at everything than El Topo.
While I doubt that Jodorowsky packs out his films with confrontational imagery for the sake of mere counter-cultural shock value, it's not like the meanings behind them come across as any more profound when the shock value has worn off. As a result, El Topo does seem awfully compromised on a second viewing. It's technically decent in terms of cinematography and production design, adding in some interesting touches such as El Topo's leather ensemble or the omnipresent iconography of the Eye of Providence scattered around the town. Even though I haven't seen it in what must be several years now, this time around I found it a serious slog (which seemed especially pronounced given the theatrical setting - surely one of the original midnight movies would have proved even better with an appreciative audience, but sadly this was not the case here). I suppose that El Topo has enough in the way of compelling visuals to make it worth watching at least once, but a second viewing really does not yield much more except a clarification of not only a lack of depth but also some more problematic aspects in regards to subjects like women, homosexuality, and animal cruelty.