WEDNESDAY ART NIGHT 12.02.2014 Doors 7.30 PM - Start 8 PM El Topo (The Mole) is a 1970 American-Mexican film written and directed by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky. Characterized by its bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed and dwarf performers, and heavy doses of Christian symbolism and Eastern philosophy, the film is rather Art- Performance and about Jodorowsky´s quest for enlightenment than a fantasy whatever western The ceaseless shocking images on the screen, are what made El Topo an underground hit in one New York theater for months in 1970. Not the story, not the performances, not the stars (Jodorowsky himself plays El Topo and the child is his own son). The images. John Lennon and Yoko Ono saw it, loved it, and convinced Beatles manager Allen Klein to buy and release it. The film went on to play all over the world and engender countless interpretations. Jodorowsky encourages such speculation by titling sections of the film after books of the Bible (Psalms), and making El Topo perhaps a Christ figure. The lone rider is El Topo. The name translates as the mole. The movie informs us that a mole spends his life digging tunnels to the sky, only to go blind when it sees the sun. This is not quite true, but truth is not allowed to interfere with its use as a convenient symbol. Will El Topo dig free and go blind? And if he does, what will that mean? Pauline Kael observed that Fellinis La Dolce Vita is filled with symbols, and theyre all obvious. El Topo is filled with symbols, and theyre not obvious. I am reminded of one of Eberts Laws: If you have to ask what something symbolizes, it doesnt. Or it stands for itself. In my review when the movie opened, I wrote: Jodorowsky lifts his symbols and mythologies from everywhere: Christianity, Zen, discount-store black magic, you name it. He makes not the slightest attempt to use them so they sort out into a single logical significance. Instead, theyre employed in a shifting, prismatic way, casting their light on each other instead of on the films conclusion. The effect resembles Eliots The Waste Land, and especially Eliots notion of shoring up fragments of mythology against the ruins of the post-Christian era. I still agree with that and do not think the symbols add up to a conclusion. But now having seen more of Jodorowskys work, I think Jodorowskys method is not without a purpose. What is El Topo seeking in the desert? Why, he is seeking symbols, images, bizarre people and events, with which to fill the film? ? ? ? REVIEW by Roger Ebert youtube/watch?v=ceHH3QGXvNw
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 14:52:31 +0000
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