"El Topo" Alejandro Jodorowsky

After watching "Holy Mountain," by Jodorowsky I was really interested to see some of his other works, to see if they were even up to par with that film, and "El Topo," (which I found out came out before "Holy Mountain," actually) didn't disappoint.
Jodorowsky is a surreal filmmaker, often using imagery that isn't only surreal, but strange, and frequently uncomfortable. Which is definitely a lot of what "El Topo" held. While a lot of the movie has meaning, that is certainly hard to grasp at times, some of it is there for the sake of the film. Almost entirely, I think it leaves it to the viewers imagination.
Although, the strong role of paternal issues certainly stand out, and the fact that Jodorowsky plays the title character ("El Topo") and cast his son as his naked companion in the beginning, adds a certain unusual ambiance to this already blatantly bizarre film.

This film uses very little close-ups and I think certainly adds more to the strange quality of this film. A lot of the themes of this films need the full pictures, the landscape, more than single characters shots, and I think it is very successful.

The colors and framing of the film are particularly striking and seem to make this small film grand. The palette is as cohesive as the film, which isn't saying much. But it all fits together. I especially love that everytime Jodorowsky chooses to show blood in his film (which is frequently) he uses a bright, bright red color, that maybe doesn't seem real, but brings a certain aliveness, and adds to the surrealist elements. 

(I couldn't really find a photo that did it justice but if you look at the wall being hit by the light, it kind of shows you what I mean)

The soundtrack at the sametime, not only keeps the weirdness brewing, but I think it really enhances the visuals. The movie doesn't have a whole heap of dialogue, the lack of it, with only images, and strange music to keep you company, I think, really plummets you into the film farther. 

Fun fact: Jon Lennon helped Jodorowsky get the soundtrack to this released, and was a huge supporter of his films. I'm pretty sure the man gave  Jodorowsky some $$$ dolladollabillz $ to make "Holy Mountain."