Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32919 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Synopsis
With its combination of surreal imagery and assault on the ideals of the Western, EL TOPO may appear to be equal parts Luis Bunuel and Sam Peckinpah, but it's all Alejandro Jodorowsky. In addition to his directing duties, Jodorowsky contributes to the film's writing, music, editing, and costumes, as well as starring as El Topo (the Mole). El Topo journeys across the desert to battle a group of gunfighters, but it's not the plot that's important in this midnight movie classic. The masterful blend of brutal violence and beautiful images make Jodorowsky's film essential viewing for anyone looking beyond the offerings of the megaplex. Decades have passed since its first screening, but EL TOPO hasn't lost any of its ability to shock and amaze.

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly Different Western
I'll keep this breif. This is not your typical Western. With superb use of mise-en-scene and cinematography, some of the special effects may not be up to a Hollywood standard but it makes up for this with an excellent and a somewhat alternative storyline. With and thrilling storyline mixed with suspenceful action and just a little dab of humour make this film the brilliant.

ONE OF A KIND
A couple of reviewers have referred to this film as twaddle, and that to enjoy it you have to have had your brain melted from actual thought. Another reviewer has detailed the film's allegory, which is fair enough, but then allegory is what you go to church for, not why you buy a movie. Although I speak for myself. Who knows.

The thing is, El Topo is less like a movie, or even an art film. It's more an insanely theatrical hallucination. There are no recognisable human beings in it - as in, no-one behaves in a manner you have witnessed in real life. It is deadly serious, and then there's lowbrow hijinks. There's lots of mime in it. The first line of dialogue, which is a long time coming, is "I am God." And there's some weird violence - the first sequence ends with a naked child killing an old man with a gun. So, you know, I'm just saying.

But it is incomparable, which is why people get so upset. If there's a genre frame, it's the revenge western - but even then, you know, not really. And yes, it is pretentious. But not in a French relationship-drama way; more in a "I do not know what is happening but it appears to mean something" way. Which can be frustrating. But then, you shouldn't only eat hamburgers. Vary your diet.

Vivid and visionary philosophical western that points the finger at the peace and love generation cast adrift.
El Topo was director Alejandro Jodorowsky's second feature film - following the low-budget surrealist parable Fando and Lis in 1967 - and, as a result of its violent content and scenes of grotesque symbolism, was the first film to bring him to the attention of a western audience. At its heart, the film is a violent and deeply mystical dream-play about a mythical gunfighter cleansing himself of the violence of his past, only to discover that the world itself has already been corrupted by the bloodshed of the present (with the film making barbed cultural references to the escalating violence of the twentieth century; with the atrocities of the holocaust, the violence of the Spanish Civil War, the massacres of Vietnam and the escalating tensions in the middle-east all informing the heavily-stylised and overruling spirit of anger and aggression).

With this in mind it is important to point out that despite the sense of violence and the scenes that seem to be intentionally designed to provoke a drastic reaction from the audience the film is in no way lurid or exploitative; with Jodorowsky placing the violence alongside Eastern philosophies, religious symbolism, situationist-inspired absurdity and a genuine sense of compassion; with his aggression being more of an existentialist scream of pain and torment, as opposed to one of masochistic excess. The film also explores a number of mystical themes that would be later fleshed out even further with The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky's second of only three films produced in the 1970's, which, much like the film in question, unfolds through a series of surrealist vignettes, rife with the aforementioned factors of religious symbolism, sardonic satire and distancing cinematic shock tactics.

As with The Holy Mountain it remains a film that polarises audience to this day, with El Topo, to some, remaining a monumental achievement of philosophy, mysticism and surrealist satire (according to some; a film capable of changing the viewer's entire perspective on life itself through the wisdom of its central character and the potency of its imagery). To others however, the film has already become something of a dated relic, with some viewers arguing that the cartoonish violence, casual nudity and notions of questing for inner peace and tranquillity have become throwbacks to the late 1960's flower-power aesthetic; which is always easy to discredit through blind cynicism (although this is the point).

So, with these considerations in place, you'll no doubt be asking yourself how you'll react to the film on a personal level, and - if I'm being completely honest - then I couldn't possibly say. I will say however that it's best to approach the film with an open mind and with some familiarity with other films of this nature (surreal, deeply metaphorical art-house cinema) as well as with Jodorowsky himself.

What surprised me the most when viewing this film for the first time was the tremendous amount of depth that can often be lost within the giddy barrage of sights and sounds that burst from the screen in a vibrant vivid collage of philosophy, art, sex and religion. As a result, I often find it annoying when people discredit Jodorowsky as simply throwing images on the screen to shock and disarm the viewer for no apparent reason. I find similar arguments regarding the work of filmmakers like David Lynch, Shinya Tsukamoto and Miike Takashi similarly offensive. Simply listen to the audio commentary on this DVD to hear Jodorowsky taking the film apart image by image; explaining the incredible amount of minor details purged from every religion, steeped in every form of art and combined in an attempt to overload the audience's senses and perceptions to effectively change the very fabric of their own personal universe. It worked for me, though as you can possibly gather from the previous reviews, opinions are mixed.

As you can imagine from the sketchy plot outline, what follows is fairly episodic in design, sometimes tapping into the cinematic absurdity of Luis Bunuel and at other times reminding me of the epic opulence of early Ken Russell (in particular, films like The Devils, The Music Lovers, The Boyfriend, Mahler, etc). For the most part though, the film is pure Jodorowsky, with the central character (played by the director himself) tapping into the intensity of The Holy Mountain's iconic shaman-esque leader; whilst the constant barrage of cripples, dwarfs, freaks and geeks cut adrift against a backdrop of raped priests, slaughtered villages, philosophical gun-play and an all-mighty sense of fury as the world of peace and love comes crumbling down as a harsh-reminder of the character's once violent past, all stand out as a testament to the pure, unbridled genius of Jodorowsky himself.

Obviously, it's not going to be a film for everyone, but those already turned on to Jodorowsky's ideas will no doubt take away a great deal from the film's central message, and from the dizzying kaleidoscope of visual ideas, interpretations and sight gags that explode from the screen in a veritable barrage of colour and movement. The Tartan DVD features some fine extra features, most notably Jodorowsky's informative and fascinating audio commentary, while also doing a fairly great - if not quite perfect - job of re-mastering a film that has remained in the vaults for well over thirty years.